''i^^i. 


CIHM 

ICMK 

Microfiche 

Collection  de 

Series 

microfiches 

(Monographs) 

(monographies) 

Canadian  Instituta  for  Historical  IMicroraproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  da  microraproductions  historiquas 


■i^i'' 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


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Cover  title  missing  /  Le  titro  de  couverture  manque 

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Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

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□ 
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D 


n 


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plaire qui  sont  peut-§tre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  m6tho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  indiques  ci-dessous. 

Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommag§es 


n 


D 

0 


D 


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0   Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  decolor^es,  tachet^es  ou  piquees 

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possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  cheeked  below  / 

Ce  document  est  (ilmi  au  taux  de  reduction  Indlqui  ci-dessous. 


i 

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10x 

14X 

18x 

22x 

26x 

30x 

7 

12x            16x            20x            24x            28x            32x 

Th«  copy  fllm«d  h«r«  has  b««n  raproduead  thanks 
to  tha  ganarosity  of: 

Library  of  the  National 
Archives  of  Canada 


L'axampiaira  film*  fut  raproduit  grica  k  la 
gtnArosit*  da: 

La  bibliothique  det  Archives 
rationales  du  Canada 


Tha  imagas  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
possibia  considaring  tha  condition  and  laglbility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  In  kaaping  vilxh  tha 
filming  contract  apacifications. 


Las  imagas  suivantas  ont  4t*  raproduitas  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin,  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  l'axampiaira  film*,  at  an 
conformity  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
fllmaga. 


Original  copiaa  in  printad  papar  eovars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  eowar  and  anding  on 
tha  last  paga  with  a  printod  or  llluatratad  impraa- 
sion,  or  tha  back  cowar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
first  paga  with  a  printad  or  llluatratad  impraa- 
sion.  and  anding  on  tha  last  paga  with  a  printad 
or  llluatratad  Imprassion. 


Tha  last  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  -^  (moaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  V  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  applias. 

Maps,  platas.  charts,  ate.  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratios.  Thosa  too  larga  to  ba 
antiraly  includad  in  ona  axposura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  cornar.  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  framas  as 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrams  illustrata  tha 
mathod: 


Loa  axamplairas  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  ast  imprimte  sont  filmis  an  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarmlnant  soit  par  la 
darniira  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainte 
d'imprasslon  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  filmis  an  commanpant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainte 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniira  paga  qui  comporta  una  telle 
amprainte. 

Un  das  symbolas  suivants  apparaltra  sur  la 
darniire  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ^>  signifie  "A  SUIVRE '.  le 
symbols  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartas,  planches,  tablaeux.  etc..  peuvent  Atre 
film  As  i  des  uux  de  riduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grend  pour  itre 
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da  I'angia  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  *  droite, 
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THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 


J 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  EDITION 


VOLUME   1 

THE  CHRONICLES 

OF  AMERICA  SERIES 

ALLEN  JOHNSON 

EDITOR 

GERHARD  R.  LOMER 

CHARLES  W.  JEFPERYS 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 


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Wood  CBgniving  in  Ancient  Cities  of  the  New  H'orld,  by  Desire 
(harnay,  translated  by  J.  Gonino  and  Helen  S.  C'onant,  publishe<l  Uy 
Chapmaa  and  Hall,  London,  1887. 


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THE 
RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

A  CHRONICLE 

OF  ABORIGINAL  AMERICA 

BY  ELLSWORTH  HUNTINGTON 


NEW   HAVEN:   YALE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

TORONTO:    GLASGOW,    BROOK    &    CO. 

LONDON:    HUMPHREY    MILFORD 

OXFORD     UNIVERSITY    PRESS 


j  ( 


Copyright,  1919,  by  Yale  University  Press 


PREFACE 

In  writing  this  book  the  author  has  aimed  first  to 
present  in  readable  form  the  main  facts  about  the 
geographical  environment  of  American  history 
Many  important  facts  have  been  omitted  or  have 
been  touched  upon  only  lightly  because  they  are 
generally  familiar.  On  the  other  hand,  special 
stress  has  been  laid  on  certain  broad  phases  of 
geography  which  are  comparatively  unfamiliar. 

?u^r^l  « '''  ''  '^'  '^°^"^"*y  °^  ^^'"^  between 
the  Old  World  and  the  New,  and  between  North 

and  South  America;  another  is  the  distribution  of 
indigenous  types  of  vegetation  in  North  America- 
and  a  third  is  the  relation  of  climate  to  health  and 
energy.  In  addition  to  these  subjects,  the  in- 
fluence of  geographical  conditions  upon  the  life  of 
the  primitive  Indians  has  been  emphasized.  This 
factor  IS  especially  important  because  people  with- 
out  iron  tools  and  beasts  of  burden,  and  without 
any  cereal  crops  except  corn,  must  respond  to 
their  environment  very  diflPerently  from  civilized 

vii 


VIU 


PREFACE 

people  of  today.  Limits  of  space  and  the  desire 
to  make  this  book  readable  have  led  to  the  omission 
of  the  detailed  proof  of  some  of  the  conclusions 
here  set  forth.  The  special  student  will  recog- 
nize such  cases  and  will  not  judge  them  until  he 
has  read  the  author's  fuller  statements  elsewhere. 
The  general  reader,  for  whom  this  book  is  designed, 
will  be  thankful  for  the  omission  of  such  purely 
technical  details. 


CONTENTS 


1.    THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA 
11.    THE  FORM  OF  THE  COXTINENT 

HI.    THE  GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  OF  NORTH 
AMERICA 

IV.  THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION 

V.  THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NO. 
INDEX 


P«Re       1 

"       36 

•       51 

'•       88 

"     118 

"     173 

"     177 

^^i-'v 


(f 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  GREAT  PALACE  OF  MITLA,  OAXACA. 
MEXICO 

Wood  engraving  in  Ancient  Cities  of  the  Sew 
World,  by  Desir6  Charnay,  translated  by  J. 
Gonino  and  Helen  S.  Conant,  published  by 
Chapman  and  Hall,  London,  1887.  Frontiaitif  r 

RESTORATION  OF  THE  INNER  WING   OF 
THE  PALACE  AT  PALENQUE.  MEXICO 
Wood  engraving  in  Ancient  Cities  of  the  New 


World,  by  Desire  Charnay. 

PHYSICAL  MAP  OP  NORTH  AMERICA 

Prepared  by  W.  L.  G.  Joerg,  American  Geo- 
graphical Society. 

VEGETATION  OP  NORTH  AMERICA 

Map  by  W.  L.  G.  Joerg,  .\merican  Geographical 
Society.     (After  Unstead  and  Taylor.) 

AZTEC  CALENDAR  STONE,  UNEARTHED  IN 
EXCAVATIONS  IN  THE  CITY  OF  MEXICO 
IN  1790,  AND  BUILT  INTO  THE  B.ASE  OF 
THE  OUTER  WALL  OF  THE  CATHEDRAL. 
WHERE  IT  IS  NOW  EXPOSED  TO  VIEW 

Drawing  in  volume  iv,  Hubert  Howe  Bancroft's 
Works. 

CULTURE  AREAS  OF  THE  INDIANS 

Map  by  W.  L.  G.  Joerg,  American  Geographical 
Society.     (After  Wissler.) 

xi 


t'miny  page     3k 


52 


88 


118 


liO 


I 

1 


xu 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  WORLD.  DISTRIBUTION  OF  HUM4\ 
ENERGY 

THE  WORLD.  DISTRIbUTION  OF  CIVILIZA- 
TION 

Maps  by  W.  L.  G.  Joerg,  American  Geographical 

Society.     (After  Huntington.)  Facing  pagi     m 

HAIDA  INDIAN  HOUSES  AND  TOTEM  POLES. 
QUEEN  CHARLOTTE  ISLANDS 

From  a  photograph.  ••        ••       ^^2 

IROQLOLS  FORT 

Engraving  after  a  drawing  by  Champlain,  in  his 
Voyages  et  De.scouverturea  faites  en  la  Nouvdle 
France,  published  in  1C;9. 


THE    GOVERNORS     PALACE    AT     UXMAL 
YUCATAN.  MEXICO 

Wot^  engraving  in  Ancient  Cities  of  the  Xew 
World,  by  D6sire  Charnay. 


160 


168 


THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 


CHAPTER  I 

•"^TE   APPROACHES   TO   AMERICA 

Across  the  t^.ilight  lawn  at  Hampton  Institute 
■straggles   a  group    of   sturdy   young   men    with 
copper-hued  complexions.     Their  day  has  b.en 
<levoted  to  farming,  carpentry,  blacksmithing,  or 
some  other  trade.    Their  evening  will  be  given  to 
-study.    Those  silent  dignified  Indians  with  straight 
black  hair  and  broad,  strong  features  are  training 
their  hands  and  minds  in  the  hope  that  some  day 
they  may  stand  beside  the  white  man  as  equals 
Behmd  them,  laughing  gayly  and  chattering  as  if 
without  a  care  in  the  world,  comes  a  larger  group 
of  kmky-haired.  thick-lipped  youths  with  black 
skms  and  African  features.    They,  too,  have  been 
workmg  with  the  hands  to  train  the  mind.    Those 
two  diverse  races,  red  and  black,  sit  down  together 


2  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

in  a  classroom,  and  to  them  comes  another  race. 
The  faces  that  were  expressionless  or  merely  mirth- 
ful a  mir  ute  ago  light  up  with  serious  interest 
as  the  teacher  comes  into  the  room.  She  stands 
there  a  slender,  golden-haired,  blue-eyed  Anglo- 
Saxon  girl  just  out  of  college  —  a  mere  child  com- 
pared with  the  score  of  swarthy,  stalwart  men  as 
old  as  herself  who  sit  before  her.  Her  mobile  fea- 
tures seem  to  mirror  a  hundred  thoughts  while 
their  impassive  faces  are  moved  by  only  one.  Her 
quick  speech  almost  trips  in  its  eagerness  not  to 
waste  the  short,  precious  hour.  Only  "  strong 
effort  holds  her  back  while  she  waits  for  the  slow 
answers  of  the  young  men  whom  she  drills  over  and 
over  again  in  simple  problems  of  arithmetic.  The 
class  and  the  teacher  are  an  epitome  of  American 
histoiy.  They  are  more  than  that.  They  are  an 
epitome  of  all  history. 

History  in  its  broadest  aspect  is  a  record  of  man's 
migrations  from  one  environment  to  another. 
America  is  the  last  great  goal  of  these  migrations. 
He  who  would  understand  its  history  must  know 
its  mountains  and  plains,  its  climate,  its  products, 
and  its  relation  to  the  sea  and  to  other  parts  of  the 
world.  He  must  know  more  than  this,  however, 
for  he  must  appreciate  how  various  environments 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA  3 

alter  man's  energy  and  capacity  and  give  his  char- 
acter a  slant  in  one  direction  or  another.    He  must 
also  know  the  paths  by  which  the  inhabitants  have 
reached  their  present  homes,  for  the  influence  of 
former  environments  upon  them  may  be  more  im- 
portant than  their  immediate  surroundings.     In 
fact,  the  history  of  North  America  has  been  per- 
haps more  profoundly  influenced  by  man's  inherit- 
ance from  his  past  homes  than  by  the  physical 
features  of  his  present  home.    It  is  indeed  of  vast 
importance  that  trade  can  move  freely  through 
such  natural  channels  as  New  York  Harbor,  the 
Mohawk   Valley,   and   the   Great  Lakes.      It  is 
equally  important  that  the  eastern  highlands  of 
the  United  States  are  full  of  the  world's  finest  coal, 
while  the  central  plains  raise  some  of  the  world's 
most  lavish  crops.    Yet  "t  is  probably  even  more 
unportant  that  because  .f  his  inheritance  from 
a  remote  ancestral  environment  man  is  energetic, 
inventive,  and  long-lived  in  certain  parts  of  the 
American  continent,  while  elsewhere  he  has  not 
the  strength  and  mental  vigor  to  maintain  even 
the  degree  of  civilization  to  which  he  seems  to 
have  risen. 

Three  streams  of  migration  have  mainly  deter- 
nuned  the  history  of  America.    One  was  an  ancient 


4  THE  RED  iMAN'S  CONTINENT 

and  comparatively  insignificant  stream  from  A- 

It  brought  the  Indian  to  the  two  great  continei 

which  the  white  man  has  now  practically  wresi 

from  him.    A  second  and  later  stream  was  the  gn 

tide  which  rolled  in  from  Europe.    It  is  as  differe 

from  the  other  as  West  is  from  East.    Thus  far 

has  not  wholly  obliterated  the  native  people,  i 

between  the  southern  border  of  the  United  Stat 

on  the  one  hand,  and  the  northern  borders  of  A 

gentina,  Chile,  and  Uruguay  on  the  other,  the  va 

proportion  of  the  blood  is  still  Indian.    The  Eur 

pean  tide  may  in  time  dominate  even  this  regio 

but  for  centuries  to  come  the  poor,  disinherite 

Indians  will  contini..   '.o  form  the  bulk  of  the  popi 

lation.    The  third  .iream  flowed  from  Africa  an 

was  as  different  from  either  of  the  others  as  Sout 

is  from  North. 

The  differences  between  one  and  another  of  tnes 
three  streams  of  population  and  the  antagonism 
which  they  have  involved  have  greatlv  colore< 
American  history.  The  Indian,  the  European,  an< 
the  Negro  apparently  differ  not  only  in  outwan 
appearance  but  in  the  much  more  importam 
matter  of  mentality.  According  to  Brinton'  the 
average   brain    capacity   of   Parisians,    including 

'  D.  G.  Brinton.  The  American  Race. 


rom  Asia, 
ontinents 
y  wrested 
the  great 
different 
bus  far  it 
"opie,  for 
?d  States 
Ts  of  Ar- 
the  vast 
he  Euro- 
s  region, 
nherited 
ie  popu- 
rica  and 
IS  South 

of  tnese 
gonisms 
colored 
■an,  and 
•utward 
portant 
on'  the 
eluding 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA  5 

adults  of  both  sexes,  is  1448  cubic  centimeters. 
That  of  the  American  Indian  is  1376,  and  that  of 
the  Negro  1344  cubic  centimeters.  With  this 
difference  in  size  there  appears  to  be  a  correspond- 
ing difference  in  function.  Thus  far  not  enough 
accurate  tests  have  been  made  upon  Indians  to 
enable  us  to  draw  reliable  conclusions.  The  Negro, 
however,  has  been  tested  on  an  extensive  scale. 
The  results  seem  to  leave  little  doubt  that  there 
are  real  and  measurable  differences  in  the  mental 
powers  of  races,  just  as  we  know  to  be  the  case 
among  individuals.  The  matter  is  so  important 
that  we  may  well  dwell  on  it  a  moment  before 
turning  to  the  cause  of  the  differences  in  the  three 
streams  of  American  immigrants.  If  there  is  a 
measurable  difference  between  the  inherent  brain 
power  of  the  white  race  and  the  black,  it  is  prac- 
tically certain  that  there  are  also  measurable 
differences  between  the  white  and  the  red. 

Numerous  tests  indicate  that  in  the  lower  mental 
powers  there  is  no  great  difference  between  the 
black  and  the  white.  In  physical  reactions  one  is 
as  quick  as  the  other.  In  the  capacity  of  the  senses 
and  in  the  power  to  perceive  and  to  discriminate 
between  different  kinds  of  objects  there  is  also 
practical  equality.    When  it  comes  to  the  higher 


6  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

faculties    however,  such  as  judgment,  inventi. 
ness.  and  the  power  of  organization,  a  differe. 
begins  to  be  apparent.    These,  as  Ferguson-  sa^ 
are  the  traits  that  "divide  mankind  into  the  ah 
and  the  mediocre,  the  brilliant  and  the  dull,  ai 
they  determine  the  progress  of  civilization  mo 
directly  than  do  the  simple  fundamental  powe 
which  man  has  in  common  with  the  lower  animals. 
On  the  basis  of  the  most  exhaustive  study  yc 
made,  Ferguson  believes  that,  apart  from  all  diffe, 
ences  due  to  home  training  and  environment,  th 
avx^rage  intellectual  power  of  the  colored  people  c 
h,s  countr,-  is  only  about  three-fourths  as  great  a 
that  of  white  persons  of  the  same  amount  of  train 
ing.     He  believes  it  probable,  indeed,  that  thi 
estimate  is  too  high  rather  than  too  low.    As  to  th( 
Indian   his  past  achievements  and  present  condi- 
ion  indicate  that  intellectually  he  stands  betweor 
the  white  man  and  the  Negro  in  about  the  position 
that  would  be  expected  from  the  capacity  of  his 
brain.    If  this  is  so,  the  mental  differences  in  the 
three  .streams  of  migration  to  America  are  fullv  as 
great  as  the  outward  and  manifest  physical  differ- 
ences and  far  more  important. 
Why  does  the  American  Indian  differ  from  the 

'  G.  O.  Ferguson.  The  Psychology  of  the  Negro.  New  York.  1916. 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA  7 

Negro,  and  the  European  from  both?  This  is  a 
question  on  which  we  can  only  speculate.  But  we 
shall  find  it  profitable  to  study  the  paths  by  which 
these  diverse  races  found  their  way  to  America 
from  man's  primeval  home.  According  to  the  now 
almost  rniversally  accepted  theory,  all  the  races 
of  mankind  had  a  common  origin.  But  where  did 
man  make  the  change  from  a  four-handed,  tree- 
dwelling  little  ape  to  a  much  larger,  upright  crea- 
ture with  two  hands  and  two  feet?  It  is  a  mistake 
to  suppose  that  because  he  is  hairless  he  must  have 
originated  in  a  warm  climate.  In  fact  quite  the 
opposite  seems  to  be  the  case,  for  apparently  he 
lost  his  hair  because  he  took  to  wearing  the  skins 
of  slain  beasts  in  order  that  he  might  have  not  only 
his  own  hair  but  that  of  other  animals  as  a  protec- 
tion from  the  cold. 

In  our  search  for  the  starting-place  of  man's 
slow  migration  to  America  our  first  step  should  be 
to  ascertain  what  responses  to  physical  environ- 
ment are  common  to  all  men.  If  we  find  that  all 
men  live  and  thrive  best  under  certain  climatic 
conditions,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  those  condi- 
tions prevailed  in  man's  original  home,  and  this 
conclusion  will  enable  us  to  cast  out  of  the  reckon- 
ing the  regions  where  thty  do  not  prevail.    A  study 


8  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

of  the  relations  of  million,  of  deaths  to  weatl 

co|Ki,t,ons  indicates  that  the  white  race  is  phy 

cally  at  ,U  best  when  the  average  temperature^ 

n  ght  and  day  ranges  from  about  SO"  to  73°  F  a, 

when  the  air  is  neither  extremely  moist  nor  e 

treme ly  dry.    I„  addition  to  these  eonditions  the 

must  be  not  only  seasonal  changes  but  freque. 

ehanges   from    day    to   day.    Sueh   changes   a, 

poss,ble  only  where  there  is  a  distinct  winter  an 

where  storms  arc  of  frequent  oncurrcnee.   The  b« 

chmate  is,  therefore,  one  where  the  temperatu 

ra"g-  from  not  much  below  the  freezing-point  a 

n.ght  .n  wmter  to  about  8«»  F.  by  day  in  summer 

and  where  the  storms  which  bring  daily  change 

are  frequent  at  all  .seasons. 

Surprising  as  it  may  seem,  this  ..udy  indicates 
that  similar  conditions  are  best  for  all  sorts  of 
races  Fmns  from  the  Arctic  Circle  and  Italians  of 
^unny  !„e,ly  have  the  best  health  and  greatest 
energy  under  practically  the  same  conditions-  so 
too  w,th  Frenchmen.  Japanese,  and  AmerLl 

Most  surp„smg  of  all.  the  African  black  man  in 
h    Lmtcd  ..ates  ,s  likewise  at  his  best  in  cssen- 

t  ally  the  same  kmd  of  weather  tha  is  most  favor- 
able for  h,s  wh,te  fellow-citizens,  and  for  Finns 
Italians,  and  other  races.    For  the  red  race   „J 


•ak'ir-v;^^**«.^|:QilfKy^ 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA  9 

exact  figures  are  available,  but  general  observation 
of  the  Indian's  health  and  activity  suggests  that 
in  this  respect  he  is  at  one  with  the  rest  of  mankind. 
For  the  source  of  any  characteristic  so  wide- 
spread and  uniform  as  this  adaptation  to  environ- 
ment we  must  go  back  to  the  very  beginning  of  the 
human  race.     Such  a  characteristic  must  have 
become  firmly  fixed  in  the  human  constitution 
before  primitive  man  became  divided  into  races, 
or  at  least  before  any  of  the  races  had  left  their 
original  home  and  started  on  their  long  journey  to 
America.    On  the  way  lo  this  continent  one  race 
took  on  a  dark  reddish  or  brownish  hue  and  its  hair 
grew  straight  and  black;  another  became  black- 
skinned  and  crinkly-haired,  while  a  third  developed 
a  white  skin  and  wavy  blonde  hair.    Yet  through- 
out the  thousands  of  years  which  brought  about 
these  changes,  all  the  races  apparently  retained  the 
indelible  constitutional  impress  of  the  climate  of 
their  common  birthplace.    Man's  physical  adapta- 
tion to  climate  seems  to  be  a  deep-seated  physiologi- 
cal  fact  like  the  uniformity  of  the  tcmperature^of 
the  blood  in  all  races.     Just  as  a  change  in  the 
temperature  of  the  blood  brings  distress  to  the  in- 
dividual, so  a  cha-qre  of  climate  apparently  brings 
distress  to  a  race.    Again  and  again,  to  be  sure,  on 


10  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

the  way  to  America,  and  under  many  other  cir- 
cumstances, man  has  passed  through  the  most 
adverse  climates  and  has  survived,  but  he  has 
flourished  and  waxed  strong  only  in  certain  zones. 
Curiously  enough  man's  body  and  his  mind  ap- 
pear to  differ  in  their  climatic  adaptations.    More- 
over, in  this  respect  the  black  race,  and  perhaps 
the  red,  appears  to  be  diverse  from  the  white.    In 
America  an  investigation  of  the  marks  of  students 
at  West  Point  and  Annapolis  indicates  that  the 
best  mental  work  is  done  when  the  temperature 
averages  not  much  above  40°  F.  for  night  and  day 
together.     Tests  of  school  children  in  Denmark 
point  to  a  similar  conclusion.    On  the  other  hand, 
daily  tests  of  twenty-two  Negroes  at  Hampton  In- 
stitute for  sixteen  months  suggest  that  their  men- 
tal ability  may  be  greatest  at  a  temperature  only 
a  little  lower  than  that  which  is  best  for  the  most 
efficient  physical  activity.     No  tests  of  this  sort 
have  ever  been  made  upon  Indians,  but  such  facts 
as  the  inventiveness  of  the  Eskimo,  the  artistic 
development  of  the  people  of  northern  British 
Columbia  and  southern  Alaska,  and  the  relatively 
high  civilization  of  the  cold  regions  of  the  Peruvian 
plateau  suggest  that  the  Indian  in  this  respect  is 
more  like  the  white  race  than  the  black.    Perhaps 


'^ 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA 


11 


man's  mental  powers  underwent  their  chief  evolu- 
tion after  the  various  races  hatl  left  the  aboriginal 
home  in  which  the  physical  characteristics  became 
fixed.  Thus  the  races,  though  alike  in  their  phy- 
sical response  to  climate,  may  j)ossibly  be  differ- 
ent in  their  mental  response  because  they  have 
approached  America  by  different  paths. 

Before  we  can  understand  how  man  may  have 
been  modified  on  his  way  from  his  original  home  to 
America,  we  must  inquire  as  to  the  geographical 
situation  of  that  home.  Judging  by  the  climate 
which  mankind  now  finds  most  favorable,  the 
human  race  must  have  originated  in  the  temperate 
regions  of  Europe,  Asia,  or  North  America.  We 
are  not  entirely  without  evidence  to  guide  to  a 
choice  of  one  of  the  three  continents.  There  is  a 
scarcity  of  indications  of  preglacial  man  in  the 
New  World  and  an  abundance  of  such  indications 
in  the  Old.  To  be  sure,  several  skulls  found  in 
America  have  been  supposed  to  belong  to  a  time 
before  the  last  glacial  epoch.  In  every  case,  how- 
ever, there  has  been  something  to  throw  doubt  on 
the  conclusion.  For  instance,  some  human  bones 
found  at  Vero  in  Florida  in  1915  seem  to  be  very 
old.  Certain  circumstances,  however,  suggest  that 
possibly  they  may  not  really  belong  to  the  layers 


( 


4;^ 


J«  THE  BED  lUNS  CONTINENT 

of  gravel  in  which  they  were  discovered  but  may 
have  been  inserted  at  some  later  time.    In  the  Old 
florid,  on  the  contrary.  „o  one  doubts  that  many 
human  skulls  and  other  parts  of  skeletons  belong 
to  the  mterglacial  ep«,h  preceding  the  last  glacial 
epoch  wh.le  some  appear  to  date  from  still  more 
remote  periods.    Therefore  no  matter  at  what  date 
man  may  h     e  come  to  America,  it  seems  clear 
that  he  cx,s.ed  in  the  Old  World  much  earlier. 
Th,s  leaves  us  to  choose  between  Europe  and  Asia. 
The  ev,dence  points  to  central  Asia  as  mans 
ongmal  home,  for  tne  general  movement  of  human 
raigrafons  has  been  outward  from  that  region  and 
not  mward.    So.  too,  with  the  great  families  of 
mammals,  as  we  know  from  fossil  remains.    From 
the  earhest  geological  times  the  vast  interior  of 
Asm  ha.  been  the  great  mother  of  the  world,  the 
J.rce  from  which  the  most  important  families 
of  hvmg  thmgs  have  come. 
Suppose,  then,  that  we  place  in  central  Asia  the 

PMm,t,«homc„t  the  thin-skinned,  hairlesshuman 
race  wuh  ,ts  adaptation  to  a  highly  variable  climate 
».th  temperatures  ranging  from  freezing  to  eighty 
degrees.    Man  could  not  stay  there  forever.    H 
was  b„„„d  t„  ,p,,,j  j„  ^^.^  ^^.^^ 

of  h,s  mnate  migratory   tendency   and   partly 


.l/.,^.A^^.^^t4£^- 


^f^ 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA         V3 

because  of  Nature's  stern  urgency.  Geologists  are 
rapidly  becoming  convinced  that  the  mammals 
sprcid  from  their  central  Asian  point  of  origin 
largely  because  of  great  variations  in  climate.' 
Such  variations  have  taken  place  on  an  enormous 
scale  during  geological  times.  They  seem,  indeed, 
to  be  one  of  the  most  important  factors  in  evolu- 
tion. Since  early  man  lived  through  the  successive 
epochs  of  the  glacial  period,  ho  must  have  been 
subject  to  the  urgency  of  vast  climatic  changes. 
During  the  half  million  years  more  or  less  of  his 
existence,  cold,  stormy,  glacial  epochs  lasting  tens 
of  thousands  of  years  have  again  and  again  been 
succeeded  by  warm,  dry,  interglacial  epochs  of 
equal  duration. 

During  the  glacial  epochs  the  interior  of  Asia 
was  well  watered  and  full  of  game  which  supplied 
the  primitive  human  hunters.  With  the  advent 
of  each  mterg!j,clal  epoch  the  rains  diminished, 
grass  and  trees  disappeared,  and  the  desert  spread 
over  enormous  tracts.  Both  men  and  animals 
must  have  been  driven  to  sore  straits  for  lack  of 
food.  Migration  to  better  regions  was  the  only 
recourse.  Thus  for  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years 
there  appears  to  have  been  a  constantly  recurring 

'  W.  D.  Matthew,  Climate  and  Evolution,  \.  Y.  .\cad.  Sci..  1915. 


14  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

outward  push  from  the  center  of  the  world's 
greatest  land  mass.  That  push,  with  the  conse- 
quent overcrowding  of  other  regions,  seems  to  have 
been  one  of  the  chief  forces  impelling  people  to 
migrate  and  cover  the  earth. 

Among  the  primitive  men  who  were  pushed  out- 
ward from  the  Asian  deserts  during  a  period  of 
aridity,  one  group  migrated  northeastward  toward 
the  Kamchatkan  corner  of  Asia.     Whether  thev 
reached  Bering  Sea  and  the  Kamchatkan  shore 
before  the  next  epoch  ol  glaciation  we  do  not  know. 
Doubt  ess  they  moved  slowly,  perhaps  averaging 
only  afe.v  score  or  a  hundred  miles  per  generation, 
for  that  IS  generally  the  way  with  migrations  of 
primitive  people  advancing  into  unoccupied  terri- 
tory.    \et  sometimes  they  may  have  moved  with 
comparative  rapidity.    I  have  seen  a  tribe  of  herds- 
men m  central  Asia  abandon  its  ancestral  home 
and  start  on  a  zigzag  march  of  a  thousand  miles 
because  of  a  great  drought.     The  grass  was  so 
scanty  that  there  was  not  enough  to  support  the 
animals.     The  tribe  left  a  trail  of  blood,  for  wher- 
ever ,t  moved  it  infringed  upon  the  rights  of  others 
and  so  with  conflict  was  driven  onward.    In  some 
such  way  the  primitive  wanderers  were  kept  in 
movement  until  at  last  they  reached  the  bleak 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA         15 

shores  of  the  North  Pacific.  Even  there  something 
—  perhaps  sheer  curiosity  —  still  urged  them  on. 
The  green  island  across  the  bay  may  have  been  so 
» iiticing  that  at  last  a  raft  of  logs  was  knotted  to- 
gf'tfiet  v'th  stout  withes.  Perhaps  at  first  the  men 
p.uldled  themselves  across  alone,  but  the  hunting 
aii;^  fishing  proved  so  good  that  at  length  they 
took  the  women  and  children  with  them,  and  so 
advanced  another  step  along  the  route  toward 
America.  At  other  times  <li.stress,  strife,  or  the 
search  for  game  may  have  led  the  primitive  no- 
mads on  and  on  along  the  coast  until  a  day  came 
when  the  Asian  home  was  left  and  the  New  World 
was  entered. 

The  route  by  which  primitive  man  entered 
America  is  important  because  it  determined  the 
surroundings  among  which  the  first  Americans 
lived  for  many  generations.  It  has  sometimes  been 
thought  that  the  red  men  came  to  America  by  way 
of  the  Kurile  Islands,  Kamchatka,  and  the  Aleu- 
tian Islands.  If  this  was  their  route,  they  avoided 
a  migration  of  two  or  three  thousand  miles  through 
one  of  the  coldest  and  most  inhospitable  of  regions. 
This,  however,  is  far  from  probable.  The  distance 
from  Kamchatka  to  the  first  of  the  Aleutian  Islands 
is  over  one  hundred  miles.    As  the  island  is  not  in 


'6  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

sight  from  the  mainland,  there  i,  little  ehanee  that 
a  bar.d  of  savages,  ineluding  women,  would  d  - 
.berate  y  sad  thither.    There  i_,  equally  little  prob- 
ab.l,  y  that  they  walked  to  the  island  on  the  ,ee 

Z     tr,"  "  T"  '"'"-"  """^-^  'he  whole  width,' 
^evertheless  the  elimate  may  at  that  time  have 

beer,  eolder  than  now.    There  is  also  a  chancet::: 

heslandma,storn,.  Supposethattheysuceeeded 
n  rea  h,„g  Benng  Island,  as  the  most  Asiatie  of 
he  Aleufans  ,s  called,  the  next  step  to  Copper 

Is      d  would  be  easy.    Then,  however,  there  eomes 
a  streteh  of  more  than  two  hundred  miles.    The 
ehanees  that  a  family  would  ever  eross  this  waste 
o  ocean  are  much  smaller  than  in  the  first  ease. 
St.ll  another  possibility  remains.    Was  there  once 
a  bndge  of  land  from  Asia  to  America  in  this  region? 
There  .s  no  evidence  of  such  a  link  between  the  two 
contments,  for  a  few  raised  beaches  indicate  that 
dunng  recent  geological  times  the  Aleutian  Islands 
have  been  uphfled  rather  than  depressed 

The  pas.,age  from  Asia  to  America  at  Bering 
Stra,t,  on  the  other  hand,  is  comparatively  easy 
The  b,ra,t  itself  is  fifty-six  miles  wide,  but  in  the 
muMle  there  are  two  small  islands  .,o  that  the 
longest  stretch  of  water  is  only  about  thirty-five 


1 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA         17 
miles.    Moreover  the  Strait  is  usually  full  of  ice, 
which  frequently  becomes  a  solid  mass  from  shore 
to  shore.    Therefore  it  would  be  no  strange  thing 
if  some  primitive  sa\  ages,  in  hunting  for  seals  or 
polar  bears,  crossed  the  Strait,  even  though  they 
had  no  boats.    Today  the  people  on  both  sides  of 
the  Strait  belong  to  the  American  race.    They  still 
retain  traditions  of  a  time  when  their  ancestors 
crossed  this  narrow  strip  of  water.    The  Thilanot- 
tines  have  a  legend  that  two  giants  once  fought 
fiercely  on  the  Arctic  Oc^an.    One  would  have  been 
defeated  had  not  a  man  whom  he  had  befriended 
cut    the    tendon    of   his    adversary's    leg.     The 
wounded  giant  fell  into  Bering  Strait  and  formed  a 
bridge  across  which  the  reindeer  entered  America. 
Later  came  a  strange  woman  bringing  iron  and 
copper.    She  repeated  Ler  visits  until  the  natives 
insulted  her,  whereupon  she  went  underground 
with  her  fire-made  treasures  and  came  back  no 
more.   Whatever  may  have  been  the  circumstances 
that  led  the  earliest  families  to  cross  from  Asia  to 
America,  they  little  recked  that  they  had  found  a 
new  continent  and  that  they  were  the  first  of  the 
red  race. 

Unless  the  first  Americans  came  to  the  new  con- 
tinent by  way  of  the  Kurile  and  Aleutian  Islands, 


m 


18  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

it  was  probably  th  '■  misfortune  to  spend  many 
generations  in  tli  old  regions  of  northeastern 
Asia  and  northwestern  America.  Even  if  they 
reached  Alaska  by  the  Aleutian  route  but  came  to 
the  islands  by  way  of  the  northern  end  of  the  Kam- 
chatkan  Peninsula,  they  must  have  dwelt  in  a 
place  where  the  January  temperature  averages 
-  10"  F.  and  where  there  are  frosts  every  month 
in  the  year.  If  they  came  across  Bering  Strait, 
they  encountered  a  still  more  severe  climate.  The 
winters  there  are  scarcely  worse  than  in  northern 
Kamchatka,  but  the  summers  are  as  cold  as  the 
month  of  March  in  New  York  or  Chicago. 

Perhaps  a  prolonged  sojourn  in  such  a  climate  is 
one  reason  for  the  stolid  character  of  the  Indians. 
Of  course  we  cannot  speak  with  certainty,  but  we 
must,  in  our  search  for  an  explanation,  consider  the 
conditions  of  life  in  the  far  north.  Food  is  scanty 
at  all  times,  and  starvation  is  a  frequent  visitor, 
especially  in  winter  when  game  is  hard  to  get. 
The  long  periods  of  cold  and  darkness  are  terribly 
enervating.  The  nervous  white  man  goes  crazy 
if  he  stays  too  long  in  Alaska.  Every  spring  the 
first  boats  returning  to  civilization  carry  an  unduly 
large  proportion  of  men  who  have  lost  their  minds 
because  they  have  endured  too  many  dark,  cold 


!■ 


fvl 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA         19 

winters.  His  companions  say  of  such  a  man,  "  The 
North  has  got  him."  Ahnost  every  Alaskan  recog- 
nizes the  danger.  As  one  man  said  to  a  friend,  "It 
is  time  I  got  out  of  here." 

"Why?"  said  the  friend,  "you  seem  all  right. 
What's  the  matter?" 

"W'ell,"  said  the  oi.ier,  "you  see  I  begi^^  .o  like 
the  smell  of  skunk  cabbage,  and,  when  a  man  gets 
that  way,  it's  time  he  went  somewhere  else." 

The  skunk  cabbage,  by  the  way,  grows  in  Alaska 
in  great  thickets  ten  feet  high.  The  man  was  per- 
fectly serious,  for  he  meant  that  his  mind  was 
beginning  to  act  in  ways  that  were  not  normal. 
Nowhere  is  the  strain  of  life  in  the  far  north  better 
described  than  in  the  poems  of  Robert  W.  Service. 


f: 


Oh,  the  awful  hush  that  seemed  to  crush  me  down  on 

every  hand, 
As  I  blundered  blind  with  a  trail  to  find  through  that 

blank  and  bitter  land; 
Half  dazed,  half  crazed  in  the  winter  wild,  with  its  grim 

heart-breaking  woes. 
And  the  ruthless  strife  for  a  gtij)  on  life  that  only  the 

sourdough  knows! 
North  by  the  compass,  Nortii  I  pressed;  river  and  peak 

and  plain 
Passed  like  a  dream  I  slept  to  lose  and  waked  to  dream 

again. 


It 


80  THE  RED  M\N'S  CONTINENT 

River  and  plain  and  mighty  peak -and  who  could 

stand  unawed? 
As  their  summits  blazed,  he  could  stand  undazed  at  the 

foot  of  the  throne  of  God. 
North,  aye,  xXorth,  through  a  land  accurst,  shunned  by 

the  scouring  brutes, 
And  all  I  heard  was  ray  own  harsh  word  and  the  whine 

of  the  nialamutes. 

Till  at  last  I  came  to  a  cabin  squat,  built  in  the  side  of  a 
hill. 

And  I  burst  in  the  door,  and  there  on  the  floor,  frozen 
to  death,  lay  Bill.' 


The  human  organism  inherits  so  delicate  an  ad- 
justment to  climate  that,  in  spite  of  man's  boasted 
ability  to  live  anywhere,  the  strain  of  the  frozen 
North  eliminates  the  more  nervous  and  active  types 
of  mind.  Only  those  can  endure  whose  nerves 
lack  sensitiveness  and  who  are  able  to  bear  long 
privation  and  the  strain  of  hunger  and  cold  and 
darkness.  Though  the  Indian  may  differ  from  the 
white  man  in  many  respects,  such  conditions  are 
probably  as  bad  for  him  as  for  any  race.  For  this 
reason  it  is  not  improbable  that  long  sojourns  at 
way  stations  on  the  cold,  Alaskan  route  from  cen- 
tral Asia  may  have  weeded  out  certain  types  of 
minds.    Perhaps  that  is  why  the  Indian,  though 

■  From  Ballads  of  a  Cherchako. 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AxMERICA 


21 


brave,  stoical,  and  hardy,  does  not  possess  the  alert, 
nervous  temperament  which  leads  to  invention 
and  progress. 

The  ancestors  of  the  red  man  unwittingly  chose 
the  easiest  path  to  America  and  so  entered  the  con- 
tinent first,  but  this  was  their  misfortune.  They 
could  not  inherit  the  land  because  they  chose  a 
path  whose  unfavorable  influence,  exerted  through- 
out centuries,  left  them  unable  to  cope  with  later 
arrivals  from  other  directions.  The  parts  of 
America  most  favorable  for  the  Indian  are  also  best 
for  the  white  man  and  Negro.  There  the  .alerter 
minds  of  the  Europeans  who  migrated  in  the  other 
direction  have  quickly  eliminated  the  Indian.  His 
long  northern  sojourn  may  be  the  reason  why 
farther  south  in  tropical  lands  he  is  even  now  at  a 
disadvantage  compared  with  the  Negro  or  with  the 
coolie  from  the  East  Indies.  In  Central  America, 
for  instance,  it  is  generally  recognized  that  Negroes 
stand  the  heat  and  moisture  of  the  lowlands  better 
than  Indians.  According  to  a  competent  author- 
ity: "The  American  Indians  cannot  bear  the  heat 
of  the  tropics  even  as  well  as  the  European,  not  to 
speak  of  the  African  race.  They  perspire  little, 
their  skin  becomes  hot,  and  they  are  easily  pros- 
trated by  exertion  in  an  elevated  temperature. 


.lit 

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M 


82  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

They  are  peculiarly  subject   to  diseases  of  hot 
climates,  as  hepatic  disorders,  showing  none  of  the 
immunity  of  the  African.    Furthermore,  the  finest 
physical  specimens  of  the  race  a  -e  found  in  the 
colder  regions  of  the  temperate  zones,  the  Pampas 
and  Patagonian  Indians  in  the  south,  the  Iroquois 
and  Algonkins  in  the  north;  whereas,  in  the  tropics 
they  are  generally  undersized,  short-lived,  of  in- 
ferior muscular  force  and  with  slight  tolerance 
of  disease.'"     "No  one,"  adds  another  observer, 
"could  live  among  the  Indians  of  the  Upper  Ama- 
zon without  being  struck  with  their  constitutional 
dislike  to  heat.    The  impression  forced  itself  upon 
my  mind  that  the  Indian  lives  as  a  stranger  or 
immigrant  in  these  hot  regions."'    Thus  when 
compared  with  the  other  inhabitants  of  America, 
from  every  point  of  view  the  Indian  seems  to  be  at 
a  disadvantage,  much  of  which  may  be  due  to  the 
path  which  he  took  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New. 
Before  the  red  man  lost  his  American  heritage, 
he  must  have  enjoyed  it  for  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  years.    Otherwise  he  never  could  have 
become  so  different    from    his    nearest  relative, 
the  Mongol.     The  two  are  as  truly  distinct  races 

•  D.  G.  Brinton,  The  American  Race,  pp.  34,  35. 
'  H.  W.  Bates,  The  Naturalist  or  the  River  Amazont,  vol.  ii,  pn. 
200,  201. 


.« ; 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA        23 

as  are  the  white  man  and  the  Malay.  Nor  could 
the  Indians  themselves  have  become  so  extra- 
ordinarily diverse  except  during  the  lapse  of  thou- 
sands of  years.  The  Quichua  of  the  cold  highlands 
of  Peru  is  as  different  from  the  Maya  of  Yucatan 
or  the  Huron  of  southern  Canada  as  the  Swede 
is  from  the  Armenian  or  the  Jew.  The  separa- 
tion of  one  stock  from  another  has  gone  so  far  that 
almost  countless  languages  have  been  developed. 
In  the  United  States  alone  the  Indians  have  fifty- 
five  "families"  of  languages  and  in  the  whole  of 
America  there  are  nearly  two  hundred  such  groups. 
These  comprise  over  one  thousand  distinct  lan- 
guages which  are  mutually  unintelligible  and  at 
least  as  different  as  Spanish  and  Italian.  Such 
differences  might  arise  in  a  day  at  the  Tower  of 
Babel,  but  in  the  processes  of  evolution  they  take 
thousands  of  years. 

During  those  thousands  of  years  the  red  man, 
in  spite  of  his  Arctic  handicap,  by  no  means  showed 
himself  wholly  lacking  in  originality  and  inventive 
ability.  In  Yucatan  two  or  three  thousand  years 
ago  the  Mayas  were  such  good  scientists  and  re- 
corded their  observations  of  the  stars  so  accurately 
that  they  framed  a  calendar  more  exact  than  any 
except  the  one  that  we  have  used  for  the  last  two 


r  •  I 

li  y  1 


3 

hi 


«4  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

centuries.  They  showed  still  greater  powers  of 
mind  in  inventing  the  art  of  writing  and  in  their 
architecture.  Later  we  shall  depict  the  environ- 
ment under  which  these  things  occurred;  it  is 
enough  to  suggest  in  passing  that  perhaps  at  this 
period  the  ancestors  of  the  Indians  had  capacities 
as  great  as  those  of  any  people.  Today  they  migut 
possibly  hold  their  own  against  the  white  man, 
were  it  not  for  the  great  handicap  which  they  once 
suffered  because  Asia  approaches  America  only  in 
the  cold,  depressing  north. 

The  Indians  were  not  the  only  primitive  people 
who  were  driven  from  central  Asia  by  aridity. 
Another  group  pushed  westward  toward  Europe. 
They  fared  far  better  than  their  Indian  cousins  who 
went  to  the  northeast.  These  prospective  Euro- 
peans never  encountered  benumbing  physical  con- 
ditions like  those  of  northeastern  Asia  and  north- 
western America.  Even  when  ice  shrouded  the 
northern  part  of  Europe,  the  rest  of  the  continent 
was  apparently  favored  with  a  stimulating  climate. 
Then  as  now,  Europe  was  probably  one  of  the 
regions  where  storms  are  most  frequent.  Hence  it 
was  free  from  the  monotony  which  is  so  deadly  in 
other  regions.  When  the  ice  retreated  our  Euro- 
pean ancestors  doubtless  followed   slowly  in  its 


Vi 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA        25 

wake.  Thus  their  racial  character  was  evolved  in 
one  of  the  world's  most  stimulating  regions.  Pri- 
vation they  must  have  suffered,  and  hardihood  and 
boldness  were  absolutely  essential  in  the  combat 
with  storms,  cold,  wild  beasts,  fierce  winds,  and 
raging  waves.  But  under  the  spur  of  constant 
variety  and  change,  these  diflBculties  were  merely 
incentives  to  progress.  When  the  time  came  for 
the  people  of  the  west  of  Europe  to  cross  to  Amer- 
ica, they  were  of  a  different  caliber  from  the  pre- 
•vious  immigrants. 

Two  facts  of  physical  geography  brought  Europe 
into  contact  with  America.  One  of  these  was  the 
islands  of  the  North,  the  other  the  trade-winds  of 
the  South.  Each  seems  to  have  caused  a  prelimi- 
nary contact  which  failed  to  produce  important 
results.  As  in  the  northern  Pacific,  so  in  the  north- 
ern Atlantic,  islands  are  stepping-stones  from  the 
Old  World  to  the  New.  Yet  because  in  the  latter 
case  the  islands  are  fai  apart,  it  is  harder  to  cross 
the  water  from  Norway  and  the  Lofoten  Islands 
to  Iceland  and  Greenland  than  it  is  to  cross  from 
Asia  by  way  of  the  Aleutian  Islands  or  Bering 
Strait.  Nevertheless  in  the  tenth  century  of  the 
Christian  era  bold  Norse  vikings  made  the  passage 
in  the  face  of  storm  and  wind.     In  their  slender 


'hi 
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«6  THE  RED  ALVN'S  COxNTINENT 

open  ships  they  braved  the  elements  on  voyage 
after  voyage.    We  think  of  the  vikings  as  pirates, 
and  so  they  were.     But  they  were  also  dihgent 
colonists  who  tilled  the  ground  wherever  it  would 
yield  even  the  scantiest  living.     In  Iceland  and 
Greenland  they  must  have  labored  mightily  to 
carry  on  the  farms  of  which  the  Sagas  tell  us. 
When  they  made  their  voyages,  honest  commerce 
was  generally  in  their  minds  quite  as  much  as  was 
plunder.    Leif .  the  son  of  that  rough  Red  Eric  who 
first  settled  Greenland,  made  a  famous  voyage  to 
Vinland.  the  mainland  of  America.    Like  so  many 
other  voyagers  he  was  bent  on  finding  a  region 
where  men  could  live  happily  and  on  filling  his 
boats  with  grapes,  wood,  or  other  commodities 
worth  carrying  home. 

In  view  of  the  energy  of  the  Norsemen,  the  traces 
of  their  presence  in  the  Western  Hemisphere  are 
amazingly  slight.  In  Greenland  a  few  insignificant 
heaps  of  stones  are  supposed  to  show  where  some 
of  them  built  small  villages.  Far  in  the  north 
Stefansson  found  fair-haired,  blue-eyed  Eskimos. 
These  may  be  descendants  of  the  Norsemen,  al- 
though they  have  migrated  thousands  of  miles 
from  Greenland.  In  Maine  the  Micmac-  Indians 
are  said  to  have  had  a  curious  custom  which  they 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA        27 

may  have  learned  from  the  vikings.  When  a  chief 
died,  they  chose  his  largest  canoe.  On  it  they  piled 
drj'  wood,  and  on  the  wood  they  placet!  the  body. 
Then  they  set  fire  to  the  pile  and  sent  the  blazing 
l)oat  out  to  sea.  Perhaps  in  earlier  times  the  Mic- 
macs  once  watched  the  flaming  funeral  pyre  of  a 
fair-haired  viking.  As  the  ruddy  flames  leaptni 
skyward  and  were  reflected  in  the  shimmering 
waves  of  the  great  waters  the  tribesmen  must  h&ve 
felt  that  the  (Jreat  Spirit  would  gladly  welcome  a 
chief  who  came  in  such  a  blaze  of  glory. ' 

It  seems  strange  that  almost  no  other  traces  of 
the  strong  vikings  are  found  in  America.  The 
explanation  lies  partly  in  the  length  and  difficulty 
of  the  ocean  voyage,  and  partly  in  the  inhospitable 
character  of  the  two  great  islands  that  served  as 
stepping-stones  from  the  Old  World  to  the  New. 
Iceland  with  its  glaciers,  storms,  and  long  dreary 
winters  is  baJ  enough.  Greenland  is  worse, 
^lerely  the  tip  of  that  island  was  known  to  the 
Norse  —  and  small  wonder,  for  then  as  now  most 
of  Greenland  was  shrouded  in  ice.  Various  Scan- 
dinavian authors,  hov  over,  have  thought  that 
during  the  most  prosperous  days  of  the  vikings  the 
conditions  in  (irecnluiui  were  not  quite  so  bad  a<' 

«  For  this  information  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Stansbury  Hagar. 


*    1 


■T*-' 


28  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

at  the  present  day.    One  settlement,  Osterbyden, 
numbered  190  farms,  12  churches,  2  monasteries, 
an-l  1  bishopric.    It  is  even  stated  that  apple-trees 
bore  fruit  and  that  some  wheat  was  raised.    "  Cattle- 
raising  and  fishing,"  says  Pettersson,  "appear  to 
have  procured  a  good  living.  ...     At  present  the 
whole  stock  of  cattle  in  Greenland  does  not  amount 
to  100  animals."'    In  those  da>s  the  ice  which 
borders  all  the  ea.«t  coast  and  much  of  the  west 
seems  to  have  been  less  troublesome  than  now. 
In  the  earliest  accounts  nothing  is  said  of  this  ice 
as  a  danger  to  navigation.    We  are  told  that  the 
best  sailing  route  was  through  the  strait  north  of 
Cape  Farewell  Island,  where  today  no  ships  can 
pass  because  of  the  ice.     Since  the  days  of  the 
Norsemen  the  glaciers  have  increased  in  size,  for 
the  natives  say  that  certain  ruins  are  now  buried 
beneath  the  ice,  while  elsewhere  ruins  can  be  seen 
which  h.'ve  been  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  coun- 
try by  advancing  glacial  tongues. 

Why  the  Norsemen  disappeared  from  the  West- 
ern Hemisphere  we  do  not  exactly  know,  but  there 
are  interesting  hints  of  an  explanation.    It  appears 

■  O.  Pettersson,  Climatic  Variations  in  m»tonc  and  Prehistoric 
Time*.  Svenska  Hydrogri6sk  -  Biologiska  Kommissioneur  Skrifter 
Haft  V.     Stockholm.  ' 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA        29 

that  the  fourteenth  century  was  a  time  of  great 
distress.    In  Norway  the  crops  failed  year  after 
year  because  of  cold  and  storms.    Provinces  which 
were  formerly  able  to  support  themselves  by  agri- 
culture were  obliged  to  import  food.    The  people 
at  home  were  no  longer  able  to  keep  in  touch  with 
the  struggling  colony  in  Greenland.    No  supphes 
came  from  the  home  land,  no  reenforcements  to 
strengthen  the  colonists  and  make  them  feel  that 
they  were  a  part  of  the  great  world.    Moreover  in 
the  late  Norse  sagas  much  is  said  about  the  ice 
along  the  Greenland  coast,  which  seems  to  have 
been  more  abundant  than  formerly.     Even  the 
Eskimos   seem    to   have   been   causing   trouble, 
though  formerly  they  had  been  a  friendly,  peace- 
able people  who  lived  far  to  the  north  and  did  not 
disturb  the  settlers.    In  the  fourteenth  century, 
however,  they  began  to  make  raids  such  as  are 
common  when  primitive  people  fall  into  distress. 
Perhaps  the  storms  and  the  advancing  ice  drove 
away  the  seals  and  other  animals,  so  that  the  Eski- 
mos were  left  hungry.     They  consequently  mi- 
grated south  and,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  finally 
wiped  out  the  last  of  the  old  Norse  settlers.    If  the 
Norse  had  established  permanent  settlements  on 
the  mainland  of  North  America,  they  might  have 


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4^*% 


30  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

persisted  to  this  day.  As  it  was,  the  cold,  bleak 
climate  of  the  northern  route  across  the  Atlantic 
checked  their  progress.  Like  the  Indians,  they 
had  the  misfortune  of  finding  a  route  to  America 
through  regions  that  are  not  good  for  man. 

Though  islands  may  be  stepping-stones  between 
the  Old  World  and  the  New,  they  have  not  been 
the  bringers  of  civilization.  That  function  in  the 
history  of  man  has  been  left  to  the  winds.  The 
westerlies,  however,  which  are  the  prevailing  winds 
in  the  latitude  of  the  United  States  and  Europe, 
have  not  been  of  much  importance.  On  the  Atlan- 
tic side  they  were  for  many  centuries  a  barrier  to 
contact  between  the  Old  World  and  the  New.  On 
the  Pacific  side  they  have  been  known  to  blow 
Japanese  vessels  to  the  shores  of  America  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  the  mariners.  Perhaps  the 
same  thing  may  have  happened  in  earlier  times. 
Asia  may  thus  have  made  some  slight  contribution 
to  i)rimitive  America,  but  no  important  elements 
of  civilization  can  be  traced  to  this  source. 

From  Ii.'itude  30^  N.  to  30°  S.  the  trade- winds 
prevail.  As  they  blow  from  the  east,  they  make  it 
easy  for  boats  to  come  from  Africa  to  America.  In 
comparatively  recent  times  they  brought  the  slave 
ships  from  the  Guinea  coast  to  our  Southern  States. 


THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA        31 

The  African,  like  the  Indian,  has  passed  through  a 
most  unfavorable  environment  on  his  way  from 
central  Asia  to  America.  For  ages  he  was  doomed 
to  live  in  a  climate  where  high  temperature  and 
humidity  weed  out  the  active  type  of  human  being. 
Since  activity  like  that  of  Europe  means  death  in 
a  tropical  climate,  the  route  by  way  of  Africa  has 
been  if  anything  worse  than  by  Bering  Strait. 

By  far  the  most  important  occurrence  which  can 
be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  trade-winds  is  the  bring- 
ing of  the  civilization  of  Europe  and  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  New  World.    Twice  this  may  have 
happened,  but  the  fir.  \  occurrence  is  doubtful  and 
left  only  a  slight  impress.    For  thousands  of  years 
the  people  around  the  Mediterranean  Sea  have 
been  bold  sailors.    Before  600  B.C.  Pharaoh  Necho, 
so  Herodotus  says,  had  sent  Phenician  ships  on 
a  three-year  cruise  entirely  around  Africa.     The 
Phenicians  also  sailed  by  way  of  Gibraltar  to  Eng- 
land to  bring  tin  from  Cornwall,  and  by  500  B.C. 
the  Carthaginians  were  well  acquainted  with  the 
Atlantic  coast  of  northern  Africa. 

At  some  lime  or  other,  long  before  the  Christian 
era,  a  ship  belonging  to  one  of  the  peoples  of  the 
eastern  Mediterranean  was  probably  blown  to  the 
shores  of  America  by  the  steady  trade-winds.    Of 


g' 


'I 


32  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

course,  no  one  can  say  positively  that  such  a  voyage 
occurred.    Yet  certain  curious  similarities  between 
the  Old  World  and  the  New  enable  us  to  infer  with 
a  great  deal  of  probability  that  it  actually  hap- 
pened.   The  mere  fact,  for  example,  that  the  adobe 
houses  of  the  Pueblo  Indians  of  New  Mexico  are 
strikingly  like  the  houses  of  northern  Africa  and 
Persia  is  no  proof  that  the  civilization  of  the  Old 
World  and  the  New  are  related.   A  similar  physical 
environment  might  readily  cause  the  same  type  of 
house  to  be  evolved  in  both  places.     When  we  fin  3 
striking  similarities  of  other  kinds,  however,  the 
case  becomes  quite  different.     The  constellations 
of  the  zodiac,  for  instance,  are  typified  by  twelve 
living  creatures,  such  as  the  twins,  the  bull,  the 
lion,  the  virgin,  the  crab,  and  the  goat.    Only  one 
of  the  constellations,  the  scorpion,  presents  any 
real  resemblance  to  the  animal  for  which   it  is 
named.    Yet  the  signs  of  the  zodiac  in  Medi- 
terranean lands  and  in  pre-Columbian  America 
from  Peru  to  southern  Mexico  are  almost  identical. 
Here  is  a  list  showing  the  Latin  and  English  names 
of  the  constellations  and  their  equivalents  in  the 
calendars  of  the  Peruvians,  Mexicans,  and  Mayas. ' 

•  3ee  S.  Hagar,  The  Bearing  of  Astronomy  on  the  Problems  of  the 
Unity  or  Plurality  and  the  Probable  Place  of  Origin  of  the  American 
Aborigines,  in  American  Anthropologist,  vol.  xiv  (im).  pp.  43-48. 


■'  i 


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THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA        33 


Sign 

English 

Peruvian 

Mexican 

Maya 

Aries 

Ram 

Llama 

Flayer 

Taurus 

Bull  (originally 
Stag) 

Stag 

Stag  or  Deer 

Stag 

Gemini 

Twins 

Man  and 
Woman 

Twins 

Two  Generals 

Cancer 

Crab 

Cuttle6sh 

Cuttlefish 

Cuttlefish 

Leo 

Lion 

Puma 

Ocelot 

Ocelot 

Virgo 

Virgin  (Mother 
Goddess  of 
Cereals) 

Maize 
Mother 

Mftize  Mother 

Maize  Mother 

Libra 

Scales  (originally 
part  of  Scorpio) 

Forks 

Scorpion 

Scorpion 

Scorpio 

Scorpion 

Mummy 

Scorpion 

Scorpion 

Sagit- 

Bowman 

Arrows  or 

Hunter  and 

Hunter  and 

tarius 

Spears 

War  God 

War  God 

Capri- 

Sea Goat 

Beard 

Bearded  God 

corn  us 

Aquarius 

Water  Pourer 

Water 

Water 

Water 

Pisces 

Fishes(andKnot) 

Knot 

Twisted  Reeds 

Notice  how  closely  these  lists  are  alike.  The  ram 
does  not  appear  in  America  because  no  such  animal 
was  known  there.  The  nearest  substitute  was  the 
llama.  In  the  Old  World  the  second  constellation 
is  now  called  the  bull,  but  curiously  enough  in 
earlier  days  it  was  called  the  stag  in  Mesopotamia. 
The  twins,  instead  of  being  Castor  and  Pollux, 
may  equally  well  be  a  man  and  a  woman  or  two 
generals.  To  landsmen  not  familiar  with  creatures 
of  the  deep,  the  crab  and  the  cuttlefish  would  not 
seem  greatly  different.  The  lion  is  unknown  in 
America,  but  the  creature  which  most  nearly  takes 


K 


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'.J  ■ 


i 


84  THE  RED  IVIAN'S  CONTINENT 

his  place  is  the  puma  or  ocelot.    So  it  goes  with  all 
the  signs  of  the  zodiac.    There  are  little  diflPerences 
between  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  but  they  only 
emphasize  the  resemblance.    Mathematically  there 
is  not  one  chance  in  thousands  or  even  millions 
that  such  a  resemblance  could  grow  up  by  accident. 
Other  similarities  between  ceremonies  or  religious 
words  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New  might  be 
pointed  out,  but  the  zodiac  is  illustration  enough. 
Such  resemblances,  however,  do  not  indicate 
a  permanent  connection  between  Mediterranean 
civilization  and  that  of  Central  America.    They  do 
not  even  indicate  that  any  one  ever  returned  from 
the  Western  Hemisphere  to  the  Eastern  previous  to 
Columbus.    Nor  do  they  indicate  that  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  New  World  arose  from  that  of  the  Old. 
They  simply  suggest  that  after  the  people  of  the 
Mediterranean  regions  had  become  well  civilized 
and  after  those  of  America  were  also  sufliciently 
civilized  to  assimilate  new  ideas,  a  stray  ship  or  two 
was  blown  by  the  trade-winds  across  the  Atlantic. 
That  hypothetical  voyage  was  the  precursor  of  the 
great  journey  of  Columbus.    Without  the  trade- 
winds  this  historic  discoverer  never  could  have 
found  the  West  Indies.     Suppose  that  a  strong 
west  wind  had  blown  him  backward  on  his  course 


,  ?%,  ■    :*«1-TV: 


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THE  APPROACHES  TO  AMERICA        35 

when  his  men  were  mutinous.  Suppose  that  he  had 
been  forced  to  beat  against  head  winds  week  after 
week.  Is  there  one  chance  in  a  thousand  that  even 
his  indomitable  spirit  could  have  kept  his  craft 
headed  steadily  into  the  west?  But  because  there 
were  the  trade-winds  to  bring  him,  the  way  was 
opened  for  the  energetic  people  of  Europe  to  pos- 
sess the  new  continent.  Thus  the  greatest  stream 
of  immigration  commenced  to  flow,  and  the  New 
World  began  to  take  on  a  European  aspect. 


•  p 


k-i 


f^^^ 


CHAPTER  II 


J  1 


THE  FORM  OF  THE  CONTINENT 

America  forms  the  longest  and  straightest  bone  in 
the  earth's  skeleton.     The  skeleton  consists  of  six 
great  bones,  which  may  be  said  to  form  a  spheroidal 
tetrahedron,  or  pyramid  with  a  triangular  base,  for 
when  a  globe  with  a  fairly  rigid  surface  collapses 
because  of   shrinkage,  it   tends   to   assume  this 
form.    That  is  what  has  haprv^ned  to  the  earth. 
Geologists  tell  us  that  during  the  thousand  million 
years,  more  or  less,  since  geological  history  began, 
the  earth  has  grown  cooler  and  hence  has  con- 
tracted.    Moreover  some  of  the  chemical  com- 
pounds of  the  interior  have  been  transformed  into 
other  compounds  which  occupy  less  space.     For 
these  reasons  the  earth  appears  to  have  diminished 
in  size  until  now  its  diameter  is  from  two  hundred 
to  four  hundred  miles  less  than  formerly.    Dur- 
ing the  process  of  contraction  the  crust  has  col- 
lapsed in  four  main  areas,  roughly  triangular  in 

36 


THE  FORM  OF  THE  CONTINENT        37 

shape.  Between  these  stand  the  six  ridges  which 
we  have  called  the  bones.  Each  of  the  four  de- 
pressed areas  forms  a  side  of  our  tetrahedron  and 
is  occupied  by  an  ocean.  The  ridges  and  the  areas 
immediately  flanking  the  oceans  forn  the  conti- 
nents. The  side  which  we  may  think  of  as  the  base 
contains  the  Arctic  Ocean.  The  ridges  surround- 
ing it  are  broad  and  flat.  Large  parts  of  them 
stand  above  sea-level  and  form  the  northern 
portions  of  North  America,  Europe,  and  Asia.  A 
second  side  is  the  Pacific  Ocean  with  the  great 
ridge  of  the  two  Americas  on  one  hand  and  Asia 
and  Australia  on  the  other.  Next  comes  the  side 
containing  the  Indian  Ocean  in  the  hollow  and  the 
ridges  of  Africa  and  Australia  on  either  hand.  The 
hist  of  the  four  sides  contains  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
and  is  bounded  by  Africa  and  Europe  on  one 
hand  and  North  and  South  America  on  the  other. 
Finally  the  tip  of  the  pyramid  projects  above  the 
surrounding  waters,  and  forms  the  continent  of 
Antarctica. 

It  may  seem  a  mere  accident  that  this  tip  lies 
near  the  South  Pole,  while  the  center  of  the  op^^o- 
site  face  lies  near  the  North  Pole.  Yet  this  has 
been  of  almost  infinite  importance  in  the  evolution 
not  only  of  plants  and  animals  but  of  men.    The 


■  i 


V 


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} 


v) 


38  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

reason  is  that  this  arrangement  gives  rise  to  a  vast 
and  almost  continuous  land  mass  in  comparatively 
high  latitudes.  Only  in  such  places  does  evolution 
appear  to  make  rapid  progress. ' 

Evolution  is  especially  stimulated  by  two  con- 
ditions. The  first  is  that  there  shall  be  marked 
changes  in  the  environment  so  that  the  process  of 
natural  selection  has  full  opportunity  to  do  its 
work.  The  second  is  that  numerous  new  forms  or 
mutants,  as  the  biologists  call  them,  shall  be  pro- 
duced. Both  of  these  conditions  are  most  fully 
met  in  large  continents  in  the  temperate  zone,  for 
in  such  places  climatic  variations  are  most  extreme. 
Such  variations  may  take  the  form  of  extreme 
changes  either  from  day  to  night,  from  season  to 
season,  or  from  one  century  to  another.  In  any 
case,  as  Darwin  long  ago  pointed  out,  they  cause 
some  forms  of  life  to  perish  while  others  survive. 
Thus  climatic  variations  are  among  the  most  power- 
ful factors  in  causing  natural  selection  and  hence 
in  stimulating  evolution.  Moreover  it  has  lately 
been  shown  that  variations  in  temperature  are  one 
of  the  chief  causes  of  organic  variation.  Morgan 
and  Plough,'  for  example,  have  discovered  that 

•  W.  D.  Matthew,  Climate  and  Eeolution,  N.  Y.  Acad.  Sci.,  1915. 
'  Unpubliahed  manuscript. 


THE  FORM  OP  THE  CONTINENT        39 

when  a  certain  fly,  called  the  drosophila,  is  sub- 
jected to  extremes  of  heat  or  cold,  the  offspring 
show  an  unusually  strong  tendency  to  differ  from 
the  parents.  Hence  the  climatic  variability  of  the 
interior  of  large  continents  in  temperate  latitudes 
provides  new  forms  of  life  and  then  selects  some 
of  them  for  preservation.  The  fossils  found  in  the 
rocks  of  the  earth's  crust  support  this  view.  They 
indicate  that  most  of  the  great  families  of  higher 
animals  originated  in  the  central  part  of  the  great 
land  mass  of  Europe  and  Asia.  A  second  but  much 
smaller  area  of  evolution  was  situated  in  the  similar 
part  of  North  America.  From  these  two  centers 
new  forms  of  life  spread  outward  to  other  con- 
tinents. Their  movements  were  helped  by  the  fact 
that  the  tetrahedral  form  of  the  earth  causes  almost 
all  the  continents  to  be  united  by  bridges  of  land. 

If  any  one  doubts  the  importance  of  the  tetra- 
hedral form,  let  him  consider  how  evolution  would 
have  been  hampered  if  the  land  of  the  globe  were 
arranged  as  isolated  masses  in  low  latitudes,  while 
oceans  took  the  place  of  the  present  northern  con- 
tinents. The  backwardness  of  the  indigenous  life 
of  Africa  shows  how  an  equatorial  position  retards 
evolution.  The  still  more  marked  backwardness 
of  Australia  with  its  kangaroos  and  duck-billed 


, 


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In'' 


•   Is 


40  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

platypuses  shows  how  much  greater  is  the  retarda- 
tion when  a  continent  is  also  small  and  isolated. 
Today,  no  less  than  in  the  past,  the  tetrahedral 
form  of  the  earth  and  the  relation  of  the  tetrahe- 
dron to  the  poles  and  to  the  equator  preserve  the 
conditions  that  favor  rapid  evolution.  They  are 
the  dominant  factors  in  determining  that  America 
shall  be  one  of  the  two  great  "enters  of  civilization. 

If  North  and  South  America  be  counted  as  one 
major  land  mass,  and  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa  as 
another,  the  two  present  the  same  general  features. 
Yet  their  mountains,  plains,  and  coastal  indenta- 
tions are  so  arranged  that  what  is  on  the  east  in 
one  is  on  the  west  in  the  other.  Their  similarity  is 
somewhat  like  that  of  a  man's  two  hands  placed 
palms  down  on  a  table. 

On  a  map  of  the  world  place  a  finger  of  one  !iand 
on  the  western  end  of  Alaska  and  a  finger  of  the 
other  on  the  northeastern  tip  of  Asia  and  follow 
the  main  bones  of  the  two  continents.  See  how  the 
chief  mountain  systems,  the  Pacific  "  Cordilleras," 
trend  away  from  one  another,  southeastward  and 
southwestward.  In  the  centers  of  the  continents 
they  expand  into  vast  plateaus.  That  of  America 
in  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  of  the  United  States 
reaches  u  width  of  over  a  thousand  miles,  while 


•X 


THE  FORM  OF  THE  CONTINENT        41 

that  of  Asia  in  Tibet  and  western  China  expands 
to  far  greater  proportions. 

From  the  plateaus  the  two  cordilleras  swing 
abruptly  Atlanticward.  The  Eurasian  cordillera 
extends  through  the  Hindu  Kush,  Caucasus,  and 
Asia  Minor  ranges  to  southern  Europe  and  the 
Alps.  Then  it  passes  on  into  Spain  and  ends  in  the 
volcanoes  of  the  Canarj'  Islands.  The  American 
Cordillera  swings  eastward  in  Mexico  and  con- 
tinues as  the  isolated  ranges  of  the  West  Indies 
until  it  ends  in  the  volcanoes  of  JNtartinique.  Cen- 
tral America  appears  at  first  sight  to  be  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  great  cordillera,  but  really  it  is 
something  quite  different  —  a  mass  of  volcanic  ma- 
terial poured  out  in  the  gap  where  the  main  chain 
of  mountains  breaks  down  for  a  space.  In  neither 
hemisphere,  however,  is  the  main  southward  sweep 
of  the  mountains  really  lost.  In  the  Old  World  the 
cordillera  revives  in  the  mountains  of  Syria  and 
southern  Arabia  and  then  runs  southward  along 
the  whole  length  of  eastern  Africa.  In  America  it 
likewise  revives  in  the  mighty  Andes,  which  take 
their  rise  fifteen  hundred  miles  east  of  the  liroken 
end  of  the  northern  cordillera  in  Mexico.  In  the 
Andes  even  more  distinctly  than  in  Africa  the 
cordillera  forms  a  mighty  wall  running  north  and 


^^'^:^s^s^BSB'<*^iriiSi. 


42 


THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 


south.  It  expands  into  the  plateau  of  Peru  and 
Bolivia,  just  as  its  African  compeer  expands  into 
that  of  Abyssinia,  but  this  is  a  mere  incident.  The 
main  bone,  so  to  speak,  keeps  on  in  each  case  till 
it  disappears  in  the  great  southern  ocean.  Even 
there,  however,  it  is  not  wholly  lost,  for  it  re- 
vives in  the  cold,  lofty  continent  of  Antarctica, 
where  it  coalesces  once  more  with  the  other  great 
tetrahedral  ridges  of  Africa  and  Australia. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  these  great  Cordilleras  have 
tu-ned  most  of  the  earth's  chief  rivers  toward  the 
Atlantic  and  the  Arctic  Oceans.  That  is  why  these 
two  oceans  with  an  area  of  only  forty-three  million 
square  miles  receive  the  drainage  from  twenty 
million  square  niile;j  of  land,  while  the  far  larger 
Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans  with  an  area  of  ninety- 
one  million  square  miles  receive  the  rivers  of  only 
ten  million  square  miles.  The  world's  streams  of 
civilization,  like  the  rivers  of  water,  have  flowed 
from  the  great  cordilleras  toward  the  Atlantic. 
Half  of  the  world's  people,  to  be  sure,  are  lodged 
in  the  relatively  small  areas  known  as  China  and 
India  on  the  Pacific  side  of  the  Old  World  Cordil- 
lera. Nevertheless  the  active  streams  of  civiliza- 
tion have  flowci  mainly  on  the  other  side  —  the 
side  where  man  a[)parently  originated.    From  the 


■X  i 


THE  FORM  OF  THE  CONTINENT        43 

earliest  times  the  mountains  have  served  to  deter- 
mine man's  chief  migrations.  Their  rugged  fast- 
nesses hinder  human  movements  and  thereby  give 
rise  to  a  strong  tendency  to  move  parallel  to  their 
bases.  During  the  days  of  primitive  man  the  trend 
of  the  mountains  apparently  directed  his  migra- 
tions northeastward  to  Bering  Strait  and  then 
southeastward  and  southward  from  one  end  of 
America  to  the  other.  In  the  .same  way  the  migra- 
tions to  Europe  and  Africa  which  ultimately 
reached  America  moved  mainly  parallel  to  the 
mountains. 

From  end  to  end  of  America  the  great  mountains 
form  a  sharp  dividing  line.  The  aboriginal  tribes 
on  the  Pacific  slope  are  markedly  different  from 
those  farther  east  across  the  mountain.s.  Brinton 
sums  the  case  up  admirably : 


1 


As  a  rule  the  tribes  of  the  western  coast  arc  not  con- 
nected with  any  east  of  the  mountains.  What  is  more 
singular,  although  they  differ  surprisingly  among  them- 
selves in  language,  they  have  marked  anthropologic 
similarities,  physical  and  psychical.  Virchow  has  em- 
phasized the  f;)ct  that  the  .skulls  from  the  northern 
point  of  Vancouver's  Island  reveal  an  unmistakable 
analogy  to  those  from  the  southern  coast  of  California; 
and  this  is  to  a  degree  true  of  many  intermediate 
points.    Not  that  the  crania  have  the  same  indices.     On 


^^■^ 


44 


THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 


hi    ', 


H<  i 


H  ( 


the  contrary,  they  present  great  and  constant  differ- 
ences within  the  same  tribe;  hut  these  differences  are 
analogous  one  to  the  other,  and  on  fixed  lines. 

There  are  many  other  pliysical  similarities  which 
mark  the  Pacific  Indians  and  contrast  them  with  those 
east  of  the  mountains.  The  eyes  are  less  obUque,  the 
nose  flatter,  the  lips  fuller,  the  chin  more  pointed,  the 
face  wider.  There  is  more  hair  on  the  face  and  in 
the  axilla,  and  the  difference  between  the  sexes  is  much 
more  obv  ious. 

The  mental  character  is  also  in  contrast.  The  Pacific 
tribes  are  more  quiet,  submissive,  and  docile;  they  have 
less  courage,  and  less  of  that  untamable  independence 
which  is  so  constant  a  feature  in  the  history  of  the 
Algonquins  and  Iroquois.' 

Although  mountains  may  guide  migrations,  the 
plains  are  the  regions  where  people  dwell  in  greatest 
numbers.  The  plains  in  the  two  great  land  masses 
of  the  Old  World  and  the  New  have  the  same  in- 
verse or  right-  and  left-handed  symmetry  as  the 
mountains.  In  the  north  the  vast  stretches  from 
the  Mackenzie  River  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  corre- 
spond to  the  plains  of  Siberia  and  Rus.sia  from  the 
Lena  to  the  Black  Sea.  Both  regions  have  a  vast 
sweep  of  monotonous  tundras  at  the  north  and 
both  become  fertile  granaries  in  the  renter.  Before 
the  white  man  introduced  the  horse,  the  ox,  and 

•  D.  G.  Brintoa,  The  American  Race,  pp.  103-4. 


^ 


THE  FORM  OF  THE  CONTINENT        45 

iron  ploughs,  there  prevailed  an  extraordinary  simi- 
larity in  the  habits  of  the  plains  Indians  from  Texas 
to  Alberta.  All  alike  depended  on  the  buffalo;  all 
hunted  him  in  much  the  same  way;  all  used  his 
skins  for  tents  and  robes,  his  bones  for  tools,  and 
his  horns  for  utensils.  All  alike  made  hini  the 
center  of  their  elaborate  rituals  and  dances.  Be- 
cause the  plains  of  North  America  were  easy  to 
traverse,  the  relatively  high  culture  of  the  ancient 
people  of  the  South  spread  into  the  Mississippi 
Valley.  Hence  the  Natchez  tribe  of  Mississippi 
had  a  highly  developed  form  of  sun-worship  and 
a  well-defined  caste  system  with  three  grades  of 
nobility  in  addition  to  the  common  people.  Even 
farther  north,  almost  to  the  Ohio  River,  traces  of 
the  sun-worship  of  Mexico  had  penetrated  along 
the  easy  pathway  of  the  plains. 

South  of  the  great  granaries  of  North  America 
and  Eurasia  the  plains  are  broken,  but  occur  again 
in  the  Orinoco  region  of  South  America  and  the 
Sahara  of  Africa.  Thence  they  stretch  almost  un- 
broken toward  the  southern  end  of  the  continents. 
In  view  of  the  fertility  of  the  plains  it  is  strange 
that  the  centers  of  civilization  have  so  rarely  been 
formetl  in  these  vast  level  expanses. 

The  most  striking  of  the  inverse  resemblances 


I' 


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t^  ■ 

I*- 
It 


46  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

between  America  and  the  Old  World  are  found 
along  the  Atlantic  border.    In  the  north  of  Eu- 
rope the  White  Sea  corresponds  to  Hudson  Bay 
in  America.    Farther  toward  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
Scandinavia  with  its  mountains,  glaciers,  and  fiords 
is  .similar  to  Labrador,  although   more  favored 
because    warmer.      Next    the    islands    of    Great 
Britain  occupy  a  position  similar  to  that  of  New- 
foundland and  Prince  Edward  Island.    But  here 
a«?ain  the  eastern  climate  is  much  more  favorable 
than  the  western.     Although    practically  all  of 
Newfoundland  is  south  of  England,  the  American 
island  has  only  six  inhabitants  per  square  mile, 
while  the  European  country  has  six  hundred.    To 
the  east  of  the  British  Isles  the  North  Sea,  the  Bal- 
tic, and  Lakes  Ladoga  and  Onega  correspond  in 
striking  fashion  to  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  the 
river  of  the  same  name,  and  the  Great  Lakes  from 
Ontario  to  Superior.     Next  the  indented  shores 
of  western  France  and  the  peninsula  of  Spain  re- 
semble our  own  indented  coast  and  the  peninsula 
of  Florida.    Here  at  Ia.st  the  American  regions  are 
as  favored  as  the  European.     Farther  south  the 
Mediterranean  and  Black  seas  penetrate  far  in- 
to the  interior  just  as  does  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
and  each  continent  is  nearly  cut  in  two  where  the 


a 


Ke 


THE  FORM  OF  THE  CONTINENT       47 

canals  of  Suez  and  Panama  respectively  have 
been  trenched.  Finally  in  the  southern  continents 
a  long  swing  eastward  in  America  balances  a  simi- 
lar swing  westward  in  Africa.  Thus  Cape  Saint 
Roque  and  Cape  Verde  are  separated  by  scarcely 
16°  of  longitude,  although  the  extreme  points  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Black  Sea  are  140°  apart. 
Finally  to  the  south  of  the  equator  the  conti- 
nents swing  away  from  one  another  once  more, 
preserving  everywhere  the  same  curious  inverse 
relationship. 

Even  more  striking  than  the  inverse  resemblance 
of  the  New  World  to  the  Old  is  the  direct  similarity 
of  North  and  South  America.  In  physical  form 
the  two  continents  are  astonishingly  alike.  Not 
only  does  each  have  the  typical  triangular  form 
which  would  naturally  arise  from  tetrahedral 
shrinking  of  the  globe,  but  there  are  four  other 
cardinal  points  of  resemblance.  First,  in  the 
northeast  each  possesses  an  area  of  extremely  an- 
cient rocks,  the  Laurentian  highlands  of  Quebec 
and  Labrador  in  North  America  and  the  highlands 
of  Guiana  in  South  America.  Second,  in  the  south- 
east lie  highlands  of  old  but  not  the  most  ancient 
rocks  stretching  from  northeast  to  southwest  in 
the  Appalachian  region  of  North  America  and  in 


ri 


48  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

the  Brazilian  mountains  of  the  southern  continent. 
Third,  along  the  western  side  of  eac'  continent 
recent  crustal  movements  supplemented  by  vol- 
canic action  on  a  magnificent  scale  have  given  rise 
to  a  complex  series  of  younger  mountains,  the  two 
great  cordillcras.  Finally,  the  spaces  between  the 
three  mountain  masses  are  occupied  by  a  series 
of  vast  confluent  plains  which  in  each  case  extend 
from  the  northern  ocean  to  the  southern  and  bend 
around  the  southeastern  highlands.  These  plains 
are  the  newest  part  of  America,  for  many  of  them 
have  emerged  from  the  sea  only  in  recent  geological 
times.  Taken  as  a  whole  the  resemblance  between 
the  two  continents  is  striking. 

If  these  four  physiographic  provinces  of  North 
and  South  America  lay  in  similar  latitudes  in  the 
respective  continents  we  might  expect  each  pair 
to  have  a  closely  similar  effect  on  life.  In  fauna, 
flora,  and  even  in  human  history  they  would 
present  broad  and  important  resemblances.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  howev<r,  they  are  as  different  as 
can  well  be  imagined.  Where  North  America  is 
bathed  by  icy  waters  full  of  seals  and  floating  ice 
South  America  is  bathed  by  warm  seas  full  of 
flying-fish  and  coral  reefs.  The  northern  continent 
is  broadest  in  the  cool   latitudes  that  are  most 


iv      I 


THE  FORM  OF  THE  CONTINENT        49 

favorable  for  human  activity.  The  southern  ex- 
pands most  widely  in  latitudes  whose  debilitating 
monotony  of  heat  and  moisture  is  the  worst  of 
handicaps  to  human  progress.  The  great  rivers  of 
the  northern  continent  correspond  very  closely  to 
th'^se  of  the  southern.  The  Mackenzie,  however,  is 
bound  in  the  rigid  bands  of  winter  for  eight  months 
each  year,  while  the  Orinoco,  the  corresponding 
South  American  river,  lies  sweltering  under  a  tropi- 
cal sun  which  burns  its  grassy  plains  to  bitter  dust 
even  as  the  sharp  cold  reduced  the  Mackenzie 
region  to  barren  tundra.  The  St.  Lawrence  flows 
through  fertile  grain  fields  and  the  homes  of  an 
active  people  of  the  temperate  zone,  but  the  Ama- 
zon winds  its  slow  way  amid  the  malarious  languor 
of  vast  tropical  forests  in  which  the  trees  shut  out 
the  sky  and  the  few  natives  are  apathetic  with  the 
eternal  inertia  of  the  hot,  damp  tropics. 

Only  when  we  come  to  the  Mississippi  in  the 
northern  continent  and  the  Rio  de  la  Plata  in  the 
southern  do  we  find  a  pair  of  rivers  which  corre- 
spond to  any  degree  in  the  character  of  the  life  sur- 
rounding them,  as  well  as  in  their  physiographic 
character.  Yet  even  here  there  is  a  vast  difference, 
especially  in  the  upper  courses  of  the  river.  Each  at 
its  mouth  flows  through  a  rich,  f  i-rtilc  plain  occupied 


•i 


50  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

by  a  progressive,  prosperous  people.  But  the  Rio 
de  la  Plata  takes  its  rise  in  one  of  the  world's  most 
backward  plains,  ihe  home  of  uncivilized  Indians, 
heartless  rubber  adventurers,  and  the  most  rapa- 
cious of  officials.  Not  infrequently,  the  degenerate 
white  men  of  these  regions,  yielding  to  the  subtle 
and  insidious  influence  of  the  tropics,  inflict  the 
most  outrageous  abuses  upon  the  natives,  and 
even  kill  them  on  slight  provocation.  The  natives 
in  turn  hate  their  oppressors,  and  when  the  chance 
comes  betray  them  or  leave  them  to  perish  in  sick- 
ness and  misery.  The  upper  Mississippi,  on  the 
other  hand,  comes  from  a  plain  where  agriculture 
is  carried  on  with  more  labor-saving  devices  than 
are  found  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  There 
States  like  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota  stand  in  the 
forefront  of  educational  and  social  progress.  The 
contrasts  between  the  corresponding  rivers  of  the 
two  Americas  are  typical  of  the  contrasts  in  the 
history  of  the  two  continents. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA 


The  four  great  physical  divisions  of  North  Amer- 
ica —  the  Laurentian  highland,  the  Appalachian 
highland,  the  plains,  and  the  western  cordillera 
—  are  strikingly  different  in  form  and  structure. 
The  Laurentian  highland  presents  a  monotonous 
waste  of  rough  hills,  irregular  valleys,  picturesque 
lakes,  and  crooked  rivers.  Most  of  it  is  thinly 
clothed  with  pine  trees  and  bushes  such  as  the 
blueberry  and  huckleberry.  Yet  everywhere  the 
ancient  rock  crops  out.  No  one  can  travel  there 
without  becoming  tiresomely  familiar  with  fine- 
grained, shattered  schists,  coarse  granites,  and 
their  curiously  banded  relatives,  the  gneisses. 
This  rocky  highland  stretches  from  a  little  north 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  to  Hudson  Bay,  around 
which  it  laps  in  the  form  of  a  V,  and  so  is  known 
as  the  Archaean  V  or  shield. 
Everywhere  this  oldest   part  of  the  Western 

51 


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52  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

Hemisphere  presents  unmistakable  signs  of  great 
age.  The  schists  by  their  fine  crumpling  and  scaly 
flakes  of  mineral  show  that  they  were  formed  deep 
in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  for  only  there  could  they 
be  subjected  to  the  enormous  pressure  needed  to 
transform  their  minerals  into  sheets  as  thin  as 
paper.  The  coarse  granites  and  gneisses  proclaim 
still  more  clearly  that  they  must  have  originate<l 
Tar  down  in  the  depths  of  the  earth;  their  huge 
crystals  of  mica,  quartz,  hornblende,  feldspar, 
and  other  mineri^'s  could  never  have  been  formed 
except  under  a  blanket  of  rock  which  almost  pre- 
vented the  original  magmas  from  cooling.  The 
thousands  or  tens  of  thousands  of  feet  of  rock  which 
once  overlay  the  schists  and  still  more  the  granites 
and  gneisses  must  have  been  slowly  removed  uy 
erosion,  for  there  was  no  other  way  to  get  rid  of 
them.  This  process  must  have  taken  tens  of  mil- 
lions of  years,  and  yet  the  whole  work  nmst  have 
been  practically  completed  a  hundred  or  perhaps 
several  Imn<lred  million  years  ago.  We  know  this 
because  the  self-same  ancient  eroded  surface  which 
is  exposed  in  the  Laurentian  highland  is  found 
dipping  down  under  the  oldest  known  fossiliferous 
rocks.  Traces  of  cuat  primitive  land  surface  are 
found  over  a  large  part  of  the  American  continent. 


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El«,„here  they  are  usually  buried  under  later 
St  a,.  la,d  down  when  the  continent  sank  in  part 
below  sea-level.  Only  in  Laurentia  has  the  land 
-ma,ned  steadily  above  the  reach  of  the  ocean 
throughout  the  millions  of  vears 

To,lay  this  old.  ohi  land  might  he  as  rich  as 
n.any  others  if  climate  had  been  kind  to  it  to 
3od.  to  be  sure,  would  in  many  part.,  be  sandy 

because  o  the  large  amount  of  quartz  in  the  rocks 
That  ,™„|j  b,  „  ,„,^||  ^^^^.^^^   ^^^^^^^ 

>-.ded  the  soil  were  .scores  of  feet  deep  like  the  red 
».l  of  the  corresponding  highland  in  the  Guiana 
-g,on  of  .South  America.    But  today  the  North 
American  Laurentia  ha,  „„  soil  worth  mentioning 
For  some  re.^,o„  not  yet  un<lerstoo,l  this  was  the 
part  of  America  where  snow  accumulated  most 
d-ply  and  where  the  largest  glaciers  were  forme, 
dunng  the  last  great  glacial  period.    Not  once  but 
many  t,mes  „s  granite  surface  wa,s  shrouded  for 

,  ;.  -^".""^  '"■  ""•^'"1  oulwanl  in  aln.ost  every 
<i.r«.„on  ,t  .,cra,«l  away  the  soil  and  ,„uged  in' 
numerab  e  hollows  in  .he  softer  parts  of  the  und  ;. 

lvn,g  rock.    „  I. „, he  L„„r..„,ia„  highland  a  land 
of  rocky  rd„  r,su,g  between  clear  lake,  that  fill 

".ehollows.     Thelakes  are  drained  by  rapid  rive„ 


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54  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

which  wind  this  way  and  that  in  hopeless  confusion 
as  they  strive  to  move  seaward  over  the  strangely 
uneven  surface  left  by  the  ice.  Such  a  land  is  good 
for  the  hunter  and  trapper.  It  is  also  good  for 
the  summer  pleasure-seeker  who  would  fain  grow 
strong  by  paddling  a  canoe.  For  the  man  who 
would  make  a  permanent  home  it  is  a  rough,  in- 
scrutable region  where  one  has  need  of  more  than 
most  men's  share  of  courage  and  persistence.  Not 
only  did  the  climate  of  the  past  cause  the  ice  to 
scrape  away  the  soil,  but  the  climate  of  the  present 
is  so  cold  that  even  where  new  soil  has  accumulated 
the  farmer  can  scarcely  make  a  living. 

Around  the  borders  of  the  Laurent ian  highland 
the  ice  accomplished  a  work  quite  (liffercnt  from 
the  devastation  of  the  interior.  One  of  its  chief 
activities  was  the  scouring  of  a  series  of  vast  hol- 
lows which  now  hold  the  world's  largest  series  of 
lakes.  Even  the  lakes  of  Central  Africa  cannot 
compare  with  our  own  Great  Lakes  and  the  other 
smaller  lakes  which  belong  to  the  same  .series. 
These  additional  lakes  begin  in  the  far  north  with 
Great  Bear  Lake  and  continue  through  Great  Slave 
Lake.  Lake  Athab.isca.  and  Lak«'  Winnipeg  to  the 
Lake  of  the  Woods,  which  drains  into  Lake  Superior. 
All  these  lakes  lie  on  the  edge  of  the  great  Lauren- 


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GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  .55 

tian  shield,  where  the  ice,  crowding  down  from  the 
highland  to  the  north  and  cast,  was  compressed 
into  certain  already  existent  hollows  which  it 
widened,  deepened,  and  left  as  vast  bowls  ready 
to  be  filled  with  lakes. 

South  and  southwest  of  the  Laurentian  highland 
the  great  ice  sheet  proved  beneficial  to  man. 
There,  instead  of  leaving  the  rock  nakt^,  as  in  the 
Laurentian  region,  it  merely  smoothed  off  many 
of  the  irregularities  of  the  surface  and  covered 
large  areas  with  the  most  fertile  soil. 

In  doing  this,  to  be  sure,  the  ice-cap  scoured 
some  hollows  and  left  a  vastly  larger  number  of 
basins  surrounded  in  whole  or  in  part  by  glacial 
debris.    These  have  given  rise  to  the  innumerable 
lakes,  large  and  small,  whose  beauty  so  enhances 
the  charms  of  Canada,  New  Kngland.  New  York, 
Minnesota,  and  other  States.     Thoy  .serve  as  res- 
ervoirs for  the  water  supply  of  towns  and  power 
plants  and  as  sources  of  ice  and  fish.    Though  they 
take  land  from  agriculture,  they  probably  add  to 
the  life  of  the  conununity  as  nuich  in  other  ways 
as  they  detract  in  this.     Mor.M>ver  glaciation  di- 
verted countless  streams  from  their  old  courses  and 
made  them  flow  over  falls  and  rapids  from  which 
water-power  can  easily  be  ch-veiop.^l.    That  is  one 


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56  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

reason  why  glaciated  New  England  contains  over 
forty  per  cent  of  all  the  developed  water-power  in 
the  United  States. 

Far  more  important,  however,  than  the  glacial 
lakes  and  rivers  is  the  fertile  glacial  soil.    It  comes 
fresh  from  the  original  rocks  an<l  has  not  yet  been 
exhausted  by  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  of 
weathering.    It  also  has  the  advantage  of  being 
well  mixed,  for  generally  it  in  the  product  of  scra- 
pings from  many  kinds  of  rocks,  each  of  which  con- 
tributes its  own  particular  excellence  to  the  general 
composition.     Take  Wisconsin  as  an  example." 
Most  parts  of  that  State  have  been  glaciated,  but 
in  the  southwest  there  lies  what  is  known  as  the 
"driftless  area"  because  it  is  not  covered  with  the 
"drift"  or  glacial  debris  which  is  thickly  strewn 
over  the  rest  of  the  State.    A  comparison  of  other- 
wise similar  counties  lying  within  and  without  the 
driftless  area  shows  an  astonishing  contrast.    In 
1910  the  average  value  of  all  the  farm  land  in 
twenty  counties  covered  with  drift  amounted  to 
$56.90  per  acre.     In  six  counties  partly  covered 
with  drift  and  partly  driftless  the  value  was  $59.80 


'  R.  II.  Whitbcck,  Economic  Aspects  of  Glaeiation  in  Wiacontin,  in 
Annalt  of  the  Association  of  American  Geographers,  vol.  in  (1913), 
I>p.  6)e-fi7. 


i^ 


GEOGIL\PHIC  PROVINCES  57 

per  acre,  while  in  thirteen  counties  in  the  driftless 
area  it  was  only  $33.30  per  acre.    In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  glaciation  causes  swamps  and  lakes,  the 
proportion   of   land   cultivated   in   the  glaciated 
areas  is  larger  than  in  the  driftless.    In  the  gla- 
ciated area  61  per  cent  of  the  land  is  improved  and 
in  the  driftless  area  only  43.5  per  cent.    Moreover, 
even  though  the  underlying  rock  and  the  original 
topography  be  of  the  same  kind  in  both  cases,  the 
average  yield  of  crops  per  acre  is  greater  where  the 
ice  has  done  its  work.     Where  the  country  rock 
consists  of  limestone,  which  naturally  forms  a  rich 
soil,  the  difference  in  favor  of  the  glaciated  area 
amounts  to  only   1   or  2   per  cent.     Where  the 
country  rock  is  sandy,  the  soil  is  so  much  improved 
by  a  mixture  of  fertilizing  limestone  or  even  of  clay 
and  other  materials  that  the  average  yield  of  crops 
per  acre  in  the  glaciated  areas  is  a  third  larger  than 
in  the  driftless.     Taking  everything  into  considera- 
tion it  appears  that  the  ancient  glaciation  of  Wis- 
consin increases  the  present  agricultural  output 
by  from  20  to  40  per  cent.     Upwards  of  10,000,000 
acres  of  glaciated  land  have  already  been  developed 
in  the  most  populous  i)arts  of  the  State.    If  theaver- 
age  value  of  all  products  on  this  area  is  reckoned  at 
$15  per  acre  and  if  the  increased  value  of  agricul- 


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58  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

tural  products  due  to  glaciation  uinounts  to  30  per 
cent,  then  the  net  \  alueof  glaciation  per  year  to  the 
farmers  of  Wisconsin  is  $45,000,000.  This  means 
al)out  $300  for  each  farmer  in  tlie  glaciat*"*!  area. 

Wisconsin  is  hy  no  means  unique.  In  Ohio,  for 
instance,  there  is  also  a  driftless  an-a. '  It  lies  in 
the  southeast  along  the  Ohio  River.  The  differ- 
ence in  the  value  of  the  farm  land  there  and  in  the 
glaciated  region  is  extraordinary.  In  the  driftless 
area  the  av<'rage  \alue  per  acre  in  1910  was  less 
than  $'24.  while  in  the  glaciated  area  it  was  nearly 
$04.  Year  by  year  the  proportion  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  State  in  the  unglaciatetl  area  is  steadily 
decreasing.  The  difference  between  the  two  parts 
of  the  State  is  not  due  to  the  underlying  rock  struc- 
ture or  to  the  rainfall  except  to  a  slight  degree. 
Some  of  the  dilference  is  due  to  the  fact  that  im- 
portant cities  such  as  Cleveland  and  Tole<lo  lie  on 
the  fertile  level  strip  of  hind  along  the  lake  .shore, 
but  this  strip  itself,  as  well  as  the  lake,  owes  much 
of  its  character  to  ginciation.  It  appears,  there- 
fore, that  in  Ohio,  perhaps  even  more  than  in  Wis- 
consin, man  i)rospers  most  in  the  parts  where  the 
ice  has  done  its  work. 

■  William  II.  Il.-ss.  Tlu-  lnfiu,„<r  nf  Chinatinn  in  Ohiv,  in  Bulletin 
of  the  (;,,>,}raphi<>d  S(Hi,t>i  of  I'hihidilithi.i.  vol.  XV  (1917).  pp.  10-4<. 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  59 

We  have  taken  Wisconsin  and  Ohio  as  examples, 
but  the  effect  of  glaciation  in  those  States  does  not 
differ  materially  from  its  effect  all  over  southern 
Canada  and  the  northern  United  States  from  New 
England  to  Kansas  and  Minnesota.  Each  year 
the  people  of  these  regions  are  richer  hy  perhaps  a 
billion  dollars  because  the  ice  scraped  its  way  down 
from  Laurentia  and  si)read  out  over  the  borders  of 
the  great  plains  on  the  west  and  of  the  Appalachian 
region  on  the  east. 

We  have  considercfl  the  Laurentian  highland 
and  the  glaciation  which  centered  there.    Let  us 
now  turn  to  another  hi;,'liland  only  the  northern  part 
of  which  was  glaciated.     The  Appalachian  high- 
land, the  second  great  division  of  North  America, 
consists  of  three  parallel  bands  which  extend  south- 
westward  from  Newfoundland  and  the  St.  Law- 
rence River  to  Georgia  and  Alabama.    The  eastern 
and  most  important   band  consists  of  hills  and 
mountains  of  ;incient  crystalline  rocks,  somewhat 
resembling  those  of  the  Laurentian  highland  but 
by  no  means  so  old.     West  of  this  comes  u  broad 
valley  eroded  for  the  most  part  in  the  softer  por- 
tions  of   a  highly   folded   series   of  sedimentary 
rocks  which  are  of  great  age  but  younger  than  the 


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60  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

crystalline  rocks  to  the  east.  The  third  band  is  the 
Alleghany  plateau,  composed  of  almost  horizontal 
rocks  which  lie  so  high  and  hc^ve  been  so  deeply 
dissected  that  they  are  often  called  mountains. 

The  three  Appalachian  bands  by  no  means  pre- 
serve a  uniform  character  throughout  their  entire 
length.    The  eastern  crystalline  band  has  its  chief 
development  in  the  northeast.     There   it  com- 
prises the  whole  of  New  England  and  a  large  part 
of  the  maritime  provinces  of  Canada  as  well  as 
Newfoundland.     Its  broad  development  in  New 
England  causes  that  region  to  be  one  of  the  most 
clearly  defined  natural  units  of  the  United  States. 
Ancient  igneous  rocks  such  as  granite  lie  intricately 
mingled  with  old  and  highly  metamorphosed  sedi- 
ments.   Since  some  of  the  rocks  are  hard  and  others 
soft  and  since  all  have  been  exposed  to  extremely 
long  erosion,  the  topography  of  New  England  con- 
sists typically  of  irregular  masses  of  rounded  hills 
free  from  precipices.    Here  and  there  hard  masses 
of  unusually  resistant  rock  stand  up  as  isolated 
rounded  heights,  like  Mount  Katahdin  in  Maine. 
They  are  known  as  "  monadnocks  "  from  the  moun- 
tain of  that  name  in  southern  ^  cw  Hampshire.   In 
other  places  larger  and  more  irregular  masses  of 
hard  rock  form  mountain  groups  like  the  White 


I^^l^Ki^ 


GEOGBAPHIC  PROVINCES  61 

Mountains,  the  Green  Mountains,  and  the  Berk- 
shires,  each  of  which  is  merely  a  great  series  of 
monadnocks. 

In  the  latitude  of  southern  New  York  the  crys- 
talline rocks  are  compressed  into  narrow  compass 
and  lose  their  mountainous  character.  They  form 
the  irregular  hills  on  which  New  York  City  itself 
is  built  and  which  make  the  suburbs  of  Westchester 
County  along  the  eastern  Hudson  so  diverse  and 
beautiful.  To  the  southeast  the  topography  of  the 
old  crystalline  band  becomes  still  less  pronounced, 
as  may  be  seen  in  the  rolling,  fertile  hills  around 
Philadelphia.  Farther  south  the  band  divides  into 
two  parts,  the  mountains  proper  and  the  Piedmont 
plateau.  The  mountains  begin  at  the  Blue  Ridge, 
which  in  Virginia  raises  its  even-topped  heights 
mile  after  mile  across  the  length  of  that  State.  In 
North  Carolina,  however,  they  lose  their  character 
as  a  single  ridge  and  expand  into  the  broad  mass  of 
the  southern  Appalachians.  There  Mount  Mitch- 
ell t'ominates  the  eastern  part  of  the  American 
continent  and  is  surrounded  by  over  thirty  other 
mountains  rising  to  a  height  of  at  least  six  thousand 
feet.  The  Piedmont  plateau,  which  lies  at  the 
eastern  foot  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  is  not  really  a 
plateau  but  a  peneplain  or  ancient  lowland  worn 


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A 


62  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINExNT 

almost  to  a  plain.    It  expands  to  a  width  of  one 
hundred  miles  in  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas  and 
forms  the  part  of  those  States  where  most  of  the 
larger  towns  are  situated.    Among  its  low  gentle 
heights  there  rises  an  occasional  little  monadnock 
hke  Chapel  Hill,  where  the  University  of  North 
Carolma  lies  on  a  rugged  eminence  which  strikingly 
recalls  New  England.    For  the  most  part,  however, 
the  hills  of  the  Piedmont  region  are  lower  and  more 
rounded  than  those  in  the  neighborhood  of  Phila- 
aelphia.    The  country  thus  formed  has  many  ad- 
vantages, for  it  is  flat  enough  to  be  used  for  agricul- 
ture  and  yet  varied  enough  to  be  free  from  the 
monotony  of  the  level  plains. 

The  prolonged  and  broken  inner  valley  forming 
the  second  band  of  the  Appalachians  was  of  some 
importance  as  a  highway  in  the  days  of  the  In- 
dians.   Today  the  main  highways  of  traffic  touch  it 
only  to  cross  it  as  quickly  as  possible.    From  Lake 
Champlain  it  trends  straight  southward  in  the  Hud- 
son Valley  until  the  Catskills  have  been  passed. 
Ihen,  while  the  railroads  and  all  the  trafl^c  go  on 
down  the  gorge  of  the  Hudson  to  New  York    the 
valley  swings  oflF  into  Pennsylvania  past  Scranton, 
Wilkesbarre,  and  Harrisburg.     There  the  under- 
Ijing  rock  consists  of  a  series  of  alternaf.^lv  hard 


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GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  63 

and  soft  layers  which  have  been  crumpled  up  much 
as  one  might  wrinkle  a  rug  with  one's  foot.  The 
pressure  involved  in  the  process  changed  and  hard- 
ened the  rocks  so  much  that  the  coal  which  they 
contain  was  converted  into  anthracite,  the  finest 
coal  in  all  the  world  and  the  only  example  of  its 
kind.  Even  the  famous  Welsh  coal  has  not  been 
so  thoroughly  hardened.  During  a  long  period  of 
erosion  the  tops  of  the  folded  layers  were  worn  oflF 
to  a  depth  of  thousands  of  feet  and  the  whole  coun- 
try was  converted  into  an  almost  level  plain.  Then 
in  the  late  geological  period  known  as  the  early  Ter- 
tiary the  land  was  lifted  up  again,  and  once  more 
erosion  went  on.  The  soft  rocks  were  thus  etched 
away  until  broad  valleys  were  formed.  The  hard 
layers  were  left  as  a  bewildering  succession  of  ridges 
with  flat  tops.  A  single  ridge  may  double  back 
and  forth  so  often  that  the  region  well  deserves 
the  old  Indian  name  of  the  "Endless  Mountains." 
Southwestward  the  valley  grows  narrower,  and  the 
ridges  which  break  its  surface  become  straighter. 
Everywhere  they  are  flat-topped,  steep-sided,  and 
narrow,  while  between  them  lie  parts  of  the  main 
valley  floor,  flat  and  fertile.  Here  in  the  south, 
even  more  clearly  than  in  the  north,  the  valley  is 
bordered  on  the  east  by  the  sharply  upstanding 


I 


it 


1 


W  THE  RED  M.VN'S  CONTINENT 

range  of  the  crystalline  Appalachians,  while  on  the 
west  with  equal  regularity  it  comes  to  an  end  in  an 
escarpment  which  rises  to  the  Alleghany  plateau. 
1  his  plateau,  the  third  great  band  of  the  Appa- 
lachians, begins  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mohawk 
Valley.     To  the  north  its  place  is  taken  by  the 
Adirondacks.  which  are  an  outlier  of  the  great 
Laurentian  area  of  Canada.   The  fact  that  the  out- 
l.er  and  the  plateau  are  separated  by  the  low  strip 
of  the  Mohawk  Valley  makes  this  the  one  place 
where  the  highly  complex  Appalachian  system  can 
easily  be  crossed.    If  the  Alleghany  plateau  joined 
the  Adirondacks.  Philadelphia  instead  of  New  York 
would  be  the  greatest  city  of  America.     Where  the 
plateau  first  rises  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mo- 
hawk. ,t  attains  heights  of  four  thousand  feet  in 
the  Catskill  Mountains.    We  think  of  the  Catskills 
as  mountains,  but  their  steep  cliffs  and  table- 
topped  heights  show  that  they  are  really  the  rem- 
nants of  a  plateau,  the  nearly  horizontal  strata  of 
which  have  not  yet  been  worn  away.     Westward 
from  the  Cat.kills  the  plateau  continues  through 
central  New  York  to  western  Pennsylvania.    Those 
who  have  traveled  on  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad 
may  remember  how  the  railroad  climbs  the  es- 
carpment  at   Altoona.     Farther   east   the   train 


■(  1 


^\i 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  65 

has  passed  alternately  through  gorges  cut  in  the 
parallel  ridges  and  through  fertile  open  valleys 
forming  the  main  floor  of  the  inner  valley.  Then  it 
winds  up  the  long  ascent  of  the  AHeghany  front  in 
a  splendid  horseshoe  curve.  At  the  top,  after  a 
short  tunnel,  the  train  emerges  in  a  wholly  different 
country.  The  valleys  are  without  order  or  system. 
They  wind  this  way  and  that.  The  hills  are  not 
long  ridges  but  isolated  bits  left  between  the  wind- 
ing valleys.  Here  and  there  beds  of  coal  blacken 
the  surface,  for  here  we  are  among  the  rocks  from 
which  the  world's  largest  coal  supply  is  derived. 
Since  the  layers  lie  horizontally  and  have  never 
been  compressed,  the  same  material  which  in  the 
inner  valley  has  been  changed  to  hard,  clean- 
burning  anthracite  here  remains  soft  and  smoky. 

In  its  southwestern  continuation  through  West 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  to  Tennessee  the  plateau 
maintains  many  of  its  Pennsylvanian  characteris- 
tics, but  it  now  rises  higher  and  becomes  more  in- 
accessible. The  only  habitable  portions  are  the 
bottoms  of  the  valleys,  but  they  are  only  wide 
enough  to  support  a  most  scanty  population.  Be- 
tween them  most  of  the  land  is  too  rough  for  any- 
thing except  forests.  Hence  the  people  who  live  at 
the  bottoms  of  the  valleys  are  strangely  isolated. 


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66  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

They  see  little  or  nothing  of  the  world  at  large  or 
even  of  their  neighbors.  The  roads  are  so  few  and 
the  trails  so  difficult  that  the  farmers  cannot  easily 
take  their  produce  to  market.  Their  only  recourse 
has  been  to  convert  their  bulky  corn  into  whisky, 
which  occupied  little  space  in  proportion  to  its 
value.  Since  the  mountaineer  has  no  other  means 
of  getting  ready  money,  it  is  not  strange  that  he  has 
become  a  moonshiner  and  has  fought  bitterly  for 
what  he  genuinely  believed  to  be  his  rights  in  that 
occupation.  Education  has  not  prospered  on  the 
plateau  because  the  narrowness  of  the  valleys  causes 
the  population  to  be  too  poor  and  too  scattered  to 
support  schools.  For  the  same  reason  feuds  grow 
up.  When  people  live  by  themselves  they  become 
suspicious.  Not  being  used  to  dealing  with  their 
neighbors,  they  suspect  the  motives  of  all  but  their 
intimate  friends.  Moreover,  in  those  deep  valleys, 
with  their  steep  sides  and  their  general  inaccessibil- 
ity, laws  cannot  easily  be  enforced,  and  therefore 
each  family  takes  the  law  into  its  own  hands. 

Today  the  more  rugged  parts  of  the  Appalachian 
system  are  chiefly  important  as  a  hindrance  to 
communication.  On  the  Atlantic  slope  of  the  old 
crystalline  band  there  are  great  g  eas  of  gentle 
relief  where  an  abundant  popu    .ion  can  dwell. 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  67 

Westward  on  the  edges  of  the  plateau  and  the 
plains  beyond  a  still  greater  population  can  find  a 
living,  but  in  the  intervening  space  there  is  oppor- 
tunity for  only  a  few.     The  great  problem  is  to 
cross  the  mountains  as  easily  as  possible.     Each 
accessible  crossing-place  is  associated  with  a  city. 
Boston,  as  well  as  New  York,  owes  much  to  the  low 
Mohawk-Hudson  route,  but  is  badly  handicapped 
because  it  has  no  easy  means  of  crossing  the  eastern 
crystalline  band.    Philadelphia,  on  the  other  hand, 
benefits  from  the  fact  that  in  its  vicinity  the  crys- 
tallines are  low  and  can  readily  be  crossed  even 
without  the  aid  of  the  valleys  of  the  Delaware  and 
Schuylkill  rivers.     It  is  handicapped,  however,  by 
the  Alleghany  escarpment  at  Altoona,  even  though 
this  is  lower  there  than  farther  south.    Baltimore, 
in  the  same  way,  owes  much  of  its  growth  to  the 
easy  pathways  of  the  Suscjuehanna  on  the  north 
and  the  Potomac  on  the  south.     Farther  south 
both  the  crystalline  band  and  tlie  Alleghany  pla- 
teau become  more  difficult  to  traverse,  so  that 
communication  between  the  Atlantic  coast  and  the 
Mississippi  Valley  is  reduced  to  small  proportions. 
Happy  is  New  York  in  its  situation  where  no  one 
of  the  three  bands  of  the  Appalachians  opposes 
any  obstacle. 


►  «■ ; 


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68  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

The  plains  of  North  America  form  the  third  of 
the  four  main  physical  divisions  of  the  continent. 
For  the  most  part  they  He  between  the  great  west- 
ern Cordillera  on  one  side  and  the  Laurentian  and 
Appalachian  highlands  on  the  other.    Yet  they  lap 
around  the  southern  end  of  the  Appalachians  and 
run  far  up  the  Atlantic  coast  to  New  York.    They 
remained  beneath  the  sea  till  a  late  date,  much 
later  than  the  other  three  divisions.    They  were 
not,  however,  covered  with  deep  water  like  that  of 
the  abysmal  oceans,  but  only  with  shallow  seas 
from  which  the  land  at  times  emerged.    In  spite  of 
the  old  belief  to  the  contrary,  the  continents  appear 
to  be  so  permanent  that  they  have  occupied  prac- 
tically their  present  positions  from  the  remotest 
geological  times.    They  have  moved  slowly  up  and 
down,  however,  so  that  some  parts  have  frequently 
been  submerged,  and  the  plains  are  the  parts  that 
remained  longest  under  water. 

The  plainc  of  North  America  may  be  divided 
into  four  parts  according  to  the  character  of  their 
surface:  the  Atlantic  coastal  plain,  the  prairies, 
the  northwestern  peneplain,  and  the  southwestern 
hi^h  plains.  The  Atlantic  coastal  plain  hes  along 
the  Atlantic  coast  from  New  York  southward  to 
Florida  and  Alabama.    It  also  forms  a  great  em- 


1 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  69 

bayment  up  the  Mississippi  Valley  as  far  as  the 
Ohio  River,  and  it  extends  along  the  shore  of  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  Rio  Grande.     The  chief 
characteristic  of  this  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coastal 
plain  is  its  belted  nature.    One  layer  of  rocks  is 
sandy,  another  consists  of  limestone,  and  a  third 
of  clay.    When  uplifted  and  eroded  each  assumes 
its  own  special  topography  and  is  covered  with  its 
own  special  type  of  vegetation.     Thus  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia   the  crystalline  Piedmont 
band  of  the  Appalachian  province  is  bordered  on 
the  southeast  by  a  belt  of  sandstone.    This  rock  is 
so  far  from  the  sea  and  has  been  raised  so  high 
above  it  that  erosion  has  converted  it  into  a  region 
of  gentle  hills,  whose  tops  are  six  hundred  or  seven 
hundred  feet  above  sea-level.    Its  sandy  soil  is  so 
poor  that  farming  is  diflScult.    The  hills  are  largely 
covered  with  pine,  yielding  tar  and  turpentine. 
Farther  seaward  comes  a  broad  band  of  younger 
rock  which  forms  a  clayey  soil  or  else  a  yellow 
sandy  loam.    These  soils  are  so  rich  that  splendid 
cotton  crops  can  be  raised,  and  hence  the  region  is 
thickly  populated.    Again  there  comes  a  belt  of 
sand,  the  so-called  "pine  barrens,"  which  form  a 
poor  section  about  fifty  miles  inland  from  the  coast. 
Finally  the  coastal  belt  itself  has  emerged  from 


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70  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

beneath  the  sea  so  recently  and  lies  so  nearly  at 
sea-level  that  it  has  not  been  greatly  eroded,  and  is 
still  covered  with  numerous  marshes  and  swamps. 
The  rich  soil  and  the  moisture  are  good  for  rice,  but 
the  region  is  so  unhealthy  and  so  hard  to  drain 
that  only  small  parts  are  inhabited. 

Everywhere  in  the  coastal  plain  this  same  belted 
character  is  mo»-«  or  less  evident.  It  has  much  to 
do  with  all  sor  activities  from  farming  to  poli- 
tics. On  consulting  the  map  showing  the  cotton 
production  of  the  United  States  in  1914,  one  notices 
the  two  dark  bands  in  the  southeast.  One  of  them, 
extending  from  the  northwestern  part  of  South 
CaroUna  across  Georgia  and  Alabama,  is  due  to  the 
fertile  soil  of  the  Piedmont  region.  The  other, 
lying  nearer  the  sea,  begins  in  North  Carolina  and 
extends  well  into  Alabama  before  it  swings  around 
to  the  northwest  toward  the  area  of  heavy  produc- 
tion along  the  Mississippi.  It  is  due  to  the  fertile 
soil  of  that  part  of  the  co  stal  plain  known  as  the 
"cotton  belt."  Portions  of  it  are  called  the  " black 
belt,"  not  because  of  the  colored  population,  but 
because  of  the  darkness  of  the  soil.  Since  this  land 
has  always  been  prosperous,  it  has  regularly  been 
conservative  in  pohtics. 

The  Atlantic  coastal  plain  is  by  no  means  the 


l^ 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  71 

only  part  of  the  United  States  where  the  fertility 
of  the  soil  is  the  dominant  fact  in  the  life  of  the 
people.     Becanse  of  their  rich   soil  the  prairies 
which  extend  from  western  Ohio  to  the  Missouri 
River  and  northward  into  Canada  are  fast  becom- 
ing the  most  steadily  prosperous  part  of  America. 
They  owe  their  surpassing  richness  largely  to  gla- 
ciation.    We  have  already  seen  how  the  coming 
of  the  ice-sheet  benefited  the  regions  on  the  borders 
of  the  old  Laurentian  highland.    This  same  benefit 
extended  over  practically  the  whole  of  what  are 
now  the  prairies.    Before  the  advent  of  the  ice  the 
whole  section  consisted  of  a  broadly  banded  coastal 
plain  much  older  thru  that  of  the  Atlantic  coast. 
When  the  ice  with  its  burden  of  material  scraped 
from  the  hills  of  the  north  passed  over  the  coastal 
plain,  it  filled  the  hollows  with  rich  new  soil.    The 
icy  streams  that  flowed  out  from  the  glaciers  were 
full  of  fine  sediment,  which  they  deposited  over 
enormous  flood  plains.     During  dry  seasons  the 
winds  picked  up  this  dust  and  spread  it  out  still 
more  widely,  forming  the  great  banks  of  yellow 
loess  whose  fertile  soil  mantles  the  sides  of  many 
a  valley  in  the  ?. Mississippi  basin.    Thus  glaciers, 
streams,  and  winds  laid  down  ten,  twenty,  fifty,  or 
even  one  hundred  feet  of  the  finest,  most  fertile  soil. 


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72  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

We  have  already  seen  how  much  the  soil  was 
improved  by  glaciation  in  Wisconsin  and  Ohio. 
It  was  in  the  prairie  States  that  this  improvement 
reached  a  maximum.    The  soil  there  is  not  only 
fine  grained  and  free  from  rocks,  but  it  consists  of 
particles  brought  from  widely  different  sources  and 
is  therefore  full  of  all  kinds  of  plant  foods.    In  most 
parts  of  the  world  a  fine-grained  soil  is  formed  only 
after  a   prolonged   period   of   weathering   which 
leaches  out  many  valuable  chemical  elements.    In 
the  prairies,  however,  the  soil  consists  largely  of 
materials  that  were  mechanically  ground  to  dust 
by  the  ice  without  b^..ig  exposed  to  the  action  of 
weathering.    Thus  they  have  reached  their  present 
resting-places  without  the  loss  of  any  of  their  origi- 
nal plant  foods.     Wlu  n  such  a  soil  is  found  with  a 
climate  which  is  good  for  crops  and  which  is  also 
highly  stimulating  to  man,  the  combination  is  al- 
most ideal.    There  is  some  justification  for  those 
who  say  that  the  north  central  portion  of  the 
United  States  is  more  fortunate  than  any  other 
part  of  the  earth.    Nowhere  else,  unless  in  west- 
ern Europe,  is  there  such  a  combination  of  fertile 
soil,  fine  climate,  easy  communication,  and  possi- 
bilities for  manufacturing  and  commerce.     Iron 
from  that  outlier  of  the  I  aurentian  highland  which 


(  1 


11^ 


4 

1 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  73 

forms  the  peninsula  of  northern  Michigan  can 
easily  be  brought  by  water  almost  to  the  center 
of  the  prairie  region.     Coal  in  vast  quantities  lies 
directly  under  the  surface  of  this  region,  for  the 
rock  of  the  ancient  coastal  plain  belongs  to  the 
same  Pennsylvanian  series  which  yields  most  of 
the  world's  coal.    Here  man  is,  indeed,  blessed  with 
resources  and  opportunities  scarcely  equaled  in 
any  other  part  of  the  world,  and  finds  the  only 
drawbacks  to  be  the  extremes  of  temperature  in 
both  winter  and  summer  and  the  remoteness  of  the 
region  from  the  sea.    Because  of  the  richness  of 
their  heritage  and  because  they  live  safely  pro- 
tected  from   threats   of  foreign   aggression,   the 
people  who  live  in  this  part  of  the  world  are  in 
danger  of  being  slow  to  feel  the  currents  of  great 
world  movements. 

The  western  half  of  the  plains  of  North  America 
consists  of  two  parts  unlike  either  the  Atlantic 
coastal  plain  or  the  prairies.  From  South  Dakota 
and  Nebraska  northward  far  into  Canada  and 
westward  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  there  extends 
an  ancient  peneplain  worn  down  to  gentle  relief 
by  the  erosion  of  millions  of  years.  It  is  not  so 
level  as  the  plains  farther  east  nor  so  low.  Its 
western  margin  reaches  heights  of  four  or  five 


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74  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

thousand  feet.  Here  and  there,  especially  on  the 
western  side,  it  rises  to  the  crest  of  a  rugged  es- 
carpment where  some  resistant  layer  of  rocks 
still  holds  itself  up  against  the  forces  of  erosioL. 
Elsewhere  its  smooth  surfaces  are  broken  by  lava- 
capped  mesas  or  by  ridges  where  some  ancient  vol- 
canic dike  is  so  hard  that  it  has  not  vet  been  worn 
away.  The  soil,  though  excellent,  is  thinner  and 
less  fevtile  than  in  the  prairies.  Nevertheless  the 
population  might  in  time  become  as  dense  and 
prosperous  as  almost  any  in  the  world  if  only  the 
rainfall  were  more  abundant  and  good  supplies  of 
coal  were  not  quite  so  far  away.  Yet  in  spite  of 
these  handicaps  the  northwestern  peneplain  with 
its  vast  open  stretches,  its  cattle,  its  wheat,  and  its 
opportunities  is  a  most  attractive  land. 

South  of  Nebraska  and  Wyoming  the  "high 
plains,"  the  last  of  the  four  great  divisions  of  the 
plains,  extend  as  far  as  western  Texas.  These,  like 
the  prairies,  have  been  built  up  by  deposits  brought 
from  other  regions.  In  this  case,  however,  the  de- 
posits consist  of  gravel,  sand,  and  silt  which  the 
rivers  have  gradually  washed  out  from  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  As  the  rivers  have  changed  their 
courses  from  one  bed  to  another,  layer  after  layer 
has  been  laid  down  to  form  a  vast  plain  like  a 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  75 

gently  sloping  beach  hundreds  of  miles  wide.  In 
most  places  the  streams  are  no  longer  building  this 
up.  Frequently  they  have  carved  narrow  valleys 
hundreds  of  feet  deep  in  the  materials  which  they 
formerly  deposited.  Elsewhere,  however,  as  in 
western  Kansas,  most  of  the  country  is  so  flat  that 
the  horizon  is  like  that  of  the  ocean.  It  seems  al- 
most incredible  that  at  heights  of  four  or  five 
thousand  feet  the  plains  can  still  be  so  wonderfully 
level.  When  the  grass  is  green,  when  the  spring 
flowers  are  at  their  best,  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a 
picture  of  greater  beauty.  Here  the  buffalo  wan- 
dered in  the  days  before  the  white  man  destroyed 
them.  Here  today  is  the  great  cattle  region  of 
America.  Here  is  the  region  where  the  soul  of  man 
is  filled  with  th:^  feeling  of  infinite  space. 

To  the  student  of  land  forms  there  is  an  ever- 
present  contrast  between  those  due  directly  to 
the  processes  which  build  up  the  earth's  surface 
and  those  due  to  the  erosive  forces  which  destroy 
what  the  others  have  built.  In  the  great  plains  of 
North  America  two  of  the  divisions,  that  is,  the 
Atlantic  coastal  plain  of  the  southeast  and  the 
peneplain  of  tlie  northwest,  owe  their  present  form 
to  the  forces  of  erosion.    The  other  two,  that  is,  the 


m 


It 


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4 


i 


nn 


II 


■I 


76  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

prairies  and  the  high  plains,  still  bear  the  impress 
of  th  original  processes  of  deposition  and  have 
been  modified  to  only  a  slight  extent  by  erosion. 

A  similar  but  greater  contrast  separates  the 
mountains  of  eastern  North  America  and  those  of 
the  westfci  i  eordillera  —  the  fourth  and  last  of 
the  main  physical  divisions  of  the  continent.  In 
both  the  Laurentian  and  the  Appalachian  highlands 
the  eastern  mountains  show  no  trace  of  the  original 
forms  produced  by  the  faulting  of  the  crust  or  by 
volcanic  movements.  All  the  original  distinctive 
topography  has  been  removed.  What  we  see  to- 
day is  the  product  of  erosion  working  upon  rocks 
that  were  thousands  of  feet  beneath  the  surface 
when  they  were  brought  to  their  present  positions. 
In  the  western  eordillera,  on  the  contrary,  al- 
though much  of  the  present  form  of  the  land  is  due 
to  erosion,  a  vast  amount  is  due  directly  to  so- 
called  "tectonic"  activities  such  as  the  breaking 
of  the  crust,  the  pouring  out  of  molten  lavas,  and 
the  bursting  forth  of  explosive  eruptions. 

The  character  of  these  tectonic  activities  has 
diflFered  widely  in  different  parts  of  the  eordillera. 
A  broad  upheaval  of  great  blocks  of  the  earth's 
crust  without  tilting  or  disturbance  has  produced 
the  plateaus  of  Arizona  and  Utah.    The  gorges  that 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  77 

have  been  rapidly  cut  into  such  great  upheaved 
blocks  form  part  of  the  world's  most  striking 
scei.ery.  The  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado  with 
its  tremendous  platforms,  mesas,  and  awe-inspir- 
ing cliffs  could  have  been  formed  in  no  other  way. 
Equally  wonderful  are  some  of  the  narrow  canyons 
in  the  broadly  upheaved  plateaus  of  southern 
Utah  where  the  tributaries  of  the  Virgin  and  other 
rivers  have  cut  red  or  white  chasms  thousands  of 
feet  deep  and  so  narrow  that  at  their  bottoms  per- 
petual twilight  reigns.  It  is  a  curious  proof  of  the 
fallibility  of  human  judgment  that  these  great 
gorges  are  often  cited  as  the  most  striking  examples 
of  the  p  wer  of  erosion.  Wonderful  as  these  gorges 
certain!  r  are,  the  Piedmont  plain  or  the  north- 
western peneplain  is  far  more  wonderful.  Those 
regions  had  their  grand  canyons  once  upon  a  time, 
but  now  erosion  has  gone  so  far  that  it  has  reduced 
the  whole  area  to  the  level  of  the  bottoms  of  the 
gorges.  Though  such  a  fate  is  in  store  for  all  the 
marvelous  scenery  of  the  western  cordillera,  we 
have  it,  for  the  present  at  least,  as  one  of  the  most 
stimulating  panoramas  of  our  American  environ- 
ment. No  man  worthy  of  the  name  can  sit  on  the 
brink  of  a  great  canyon  or  gaze  up  from  the  dark 
depths  of  a  gorge  without  a  sense  of  awe  and 


II 


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78  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

wonder.  There,  as  in  few  other  places,  Nature 
shows  with  unmistakable  grandeur  the  marvelous 
power  and  certainty  with  which  her  laws  work  out 
the  destiny  of  the  universe. 

In  other  parts  of  the  great  American  cordillera 
some  of  the  simplest  and  youngest  mountain  ridges 
in  the  world  are  found.    In  southern  Oregon,  for 
example,  lava  blocks  have  be?n  broken  and  up- 
lifted and  now  stand  with  steep  fresh  faces  on  one 
side  and  with  the  old  surface  inclining  more  gently 
on  the  other.    Tilted  blocks  on  a  larger  scale  and 
much  more  deeply  carved  by  erosion  are  found 
in  the  lofty  St.  Elias  Mountain  of  Alaska,  where 
much  of  the  erosion  has  been  done  by  some  of  the 
world's  greatest  glaciers.    The  western  slope  of  the 
Wasatch  Mountains  facing  the  desert  of  Utah  is 
the  wall  of  a  huge  fracture,  as  is  the  eastern  face 
of  the  Sierra  Nevadas  facing  the  deserts  of  Nevada. 
Each  of  these  great  faces  has  been  deeply  eroded. 
At  the  base,  however,  recent  breaking  and  up- 
heaval of  the  crust  have  given  rise  to  fresh  un- 
eroded  slopes.     Some  take  the  form  of  triangular 
facets,  where  a  series  of   ridges  has  been  sliced 
across  and  lifted  up  by  a  great  fault.    Others  as- 
sume the  shape  of  terraces  which  sometimes  con- 
tinue along  the  base  of  the  mountains  for  scores  of 


^ 


li 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  79 

miles.  In  places  they  seem  like  bluffs  cut  by  an 
ancient  lake,  but  suddenly  they  change  their  alti- 
tude or  pass  from  one  drainage  area  to  another  as 
no  lake-formed  strand  could  possibly  do. 

In  other  parts  of  the  cordillera,  mountains  have 
been  formed  by  a  single  arching  of  the  crust  with- 
out any  breaking.  Such  is  the  case  in  the  Uinta 
Mountains  of  northwestern  Utah  and  in  some  of 
the  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  Colorado. 
The  Black  Hills  of  South  Dakota,  although  lying 
out  in  the  plains,  are  an  example  of  the  same  kind 
of  structure  and  really  belong  to  the  cordillera.  In 
them  the  layers  of  the  earth's  crust  have  been  bent 
up  in  the  form  of  a  great  dome.  The  dome  struc- 
ture, to  be  sure,  has  now  been  largely  destroyed, 
for  erosion  has  long  been  active.  The  result  is  that 
the  harder  strata  form  a  series  of  concentric  ridges, 
while  between  them  are  ring-shaped  valleys,  one  of 
which  is  so  level  and  unbroken  that  it  is  known  to 
the  Indians  as  the  "race-course."  In  other  parts 
of  the  cordillera  great  masses  of  rock  have  been 
pushed  horizontally  upon  the  tops  of  others.  In 
Montana,  for  example,  the  strata  of  the  plains  have 
been  bent  down  and  overridden  by  those  of  the 
mountains.  These  are  only  a  few  of  the  countless 
forms  of  breaking,  faulting,  and  crumpling  which 


i 


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80  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

have  given  to  the  cordillera  an  almost  infinite 
variety  of  scenery. 

The  work  of  mountain  building  is  still  active  in 
the  western  cordillera,  as  is  evident  from  such  an 
event  as  the  San  Francisco  earthquake.     In  the 
Owens  Valley  region  in  southern  California  the 
gravelly  beaches  of  old  lakes  are  rent  by  fissures 
mitde  within  a  few  years  by  earthquakes.    In  other 
places  fresh  terraces  on  the  sides  of  the  valley  mark 
the  hues  of  recent  earth  movements,  while  newly 
formed  lakes  lie  in  troughs  at  their  base.    These 
Owens  Valley  movements  of  the  crust  are  parts 
of  the  stupendous  uplift  which  has  raised  the  Sierra 
Nevada  to  heights  of  over  14,000  feet  a  few  miles 
to  the  west.    Along  the  fault  line  at  the  base  of 
the  mountains  there  runs  for  over  250  miles  the 
world's  longest  aqueduct,  which  was  built  to  re- 
lieve Los  Angeles  from  the  danger  of  drought.   It 
is  a  strange  irony  of  fate  that  so  delicate  and  so 
vital  an  artery  of  civilization  should  be  forced  to  lie 
where  a  renewal  of  earthquake  movements  may 
break  it  at  any  time.    Yet  there  was  no  other  place 
to  put  it,  for  in  spite  of  man's  growing  control  of 
nature  he  was  forced  to  follow  the  topography  of 
the  region  in  which  he  lived  and  labored. 
On  the  southern  side  of  the  Mohave  Desert  a 


t«Vl 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  81 

little  to  the  east  of  where  the  Los  Angeles  aqueduct 
crosses  the  mountains  in  its  southward  course,  the 
record  of  an  earthquake  is  preserved  in  unique 
fashion.    The  steep  face  of  a  terrace  is  covered  with 
trees  forty  or  fifty  years  old.    Near  the  base  the 
trees  are  bent  in  peculiar  fashion.   Their  lower  por- 
tions stand  at  right  angles  to  the  steeply  sloping 
face  of  the  terrace,  but  after  a  few  feet  the  trunks 
bend  upward  and  stand  vertically.    Clearly  when 
these  trees  were  young  the  terrace  was  not  there. 
Then  an  earthquake  came.     One  block  of  the 
earth's  crust  was  dropped  down  while  another  was 
raised  up.    Along  the  dividing  line  a  terrace  was 
formed.    The  trees  that  happened  to  stand  along 
the  line  were  tilted  and  left  in  a  slanting  position 
on  the  sloping  si  rf  ace  between  the  two  parts  of  the 
earth's  crust.    They  saw  no  reason  to  stop  growing, 
but,  turning  their  tips  toward  the  sky,  they  bravely 
pushed  upward.    Thus  they  preserve  in  a  striking 
way  the  record  of  this  recent  movement  of  the 
earth's  crust. 

Volcanoes  as  well  as  earth  movements  have 
occurred  on  a  grand  scale  within  a  few  hundred 
years  in  the  cordillera.  Even  where  there  is  to- 
day no  visible  volcanic  activity,  recent  eruptions 
have  left  traces  as  fresh  as  if  they  had  occurred  but 


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82  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

yesterday.  On  the  borders  of  the  Grand  Canyon 
of  the  Colorado  one  can  see  not  only  fresh  cones  of 
volcanic  ash  but  lava  which  has  poured  over  the 
edges  of  the  cliffs  and  hardened  while  in  the  act 
of  flowing.  From  Orizaba  and  Popocatepetl  in 
Mexico  through  Mount  San  Francisco  in  Arizona, 
Lassen  Peak  and  Mount  Shasta  in  California, 
Mount  Rainier  with  its  glaciers  in  the  Cascade 
Range  of  Washington,  and  Mount  Wrangell  in 
Alaska,  the  cordillera  contains  an  almost  unbroken 
chain  of  great  volcanoes.  All  are  either  active  at 
present  or  have  been  active  within  very  recent 
times.  In  1912  Mount  Katmai,  near  the  north- 
western end  of  the  volcanic  chain,  erupted  so 
violently  that  it  sent  dust  around  the  whole  world. 
The  presence  of  the  dust  caused  brilliant  sunsets 
second  only  to  those  due  to  Krakatoa  in  1883.  It 
also  cut  off  so  much  sunlight  that  the  effect  was 
felt  in  measurements  made  by  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution in  the  French  provinces  of  North  Africa. 
In  earlier  times,  throughout  the  length  of  the 
cordillera  great  masses  of  volcanic  material  were 
poured  out  to  form  high  plateaus  like  those  of 
southern  Mexico  or  of  the  Columbia  River  in  Ore- 
gon. In  Utah  some  of  these  have  been  lifted  up  so 
that  heavy  caps  of  lava  now  form  isolated  sheets 


i   I 


L>V 


^'^l^sf^^J^J^iu^s^' 


M  V 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  83 

topping  lofty  plateaus.  There  the  lowland  shep- 
herds drive  their  sheep  in  summer  and  hve  in 
absolute  isolation  for  months  at  a  time.  There, 
as  everywhere,  the  cordill^ru  bears  the  marks  of 
mountains  in  the  making,  while  the  mountains  of 
eastern  AnuTica  bear  the  marks  of  those  that  were 
made  when  the  world  was  young. 

The  geysers  and  hot  springs  of  the  Yellowstone 
are  another  proof  of  recent  volcanic  activity.  They 
owe  their  existence  to  hot  rocks  which  lie  only  a 
little  way  below  the  surface  and  which  not  long 
ago  were  molten  lava.  The  terraces  and  platforms 
built  by  the  geysers  are  another  evidence  that  the 
Cordillera  is  a  region  where  the  surface  of  the  earth 
is  still  being  shaped  into  new  fomjs  by  forces  acting 
from  within.  The  phys'  eatures  of  the  country 
are  still  in  process  of  con.  luction. 

In  spite  of  the  importance  of  the  constructive 
forces  which  are  still  building  up  the  mountains, 
much  of  the  finest  scenery  of  the  cordillera  is  due 
to  the  destructive  forces  of  erosion.  The  majestic 
Columbia  Canyon,  like  others  of  its  kind,  is  the 
work  of  running  water.  Glaciers  also  have  done 
their  part.  During  the  glacial  period  the  forces 
which  control  the  paths  of  storms  did  not  give  to 
the  cordillera  region  suih  an  abundance  of  snow 


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84  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

as  was  sifted  down  upon  Laurcntia.  Therefore 
no  such  huge  continental  glaciers  have  flowed 
out  over  millions  of  square  miles  of  lower  country. 
Nevertheless  among  the  mountains  themselves  the 
ice  gouged  and  scraped  and  smoothed  and  at  its 
lower  edges  deposited  great  moraines.  Its  work  to- 
day makes  the  cliffs  and  falls  of  the  Yosemite  one 
of  the  world's  most  famous  bits  of  scenery.  This 
scenery  is  young  and  its  beauty  will  pass  in  a  short 
time  as  geologj'  counts  the  years,  for  in  natural 
scenery  as  in  human  life  it  is  youth  that  makes 
beauty  The  canyons,  waterfalls,  and  geysers  of 
the  Cordillera  share  their  youth  with  the  lakes, 
waterfalls,  and  rapids  due  to  recent  glaciation  in 
the  east.  Nevertheless,  though  youth  is  the  con- 
dition of  most  striking  beauty,  maturity  and  old 
age  are  the  condition  of  greatest  usefulness.  The 
young  Cordillera  with  its  mountains  still  in  the  mak- 
ing can  support  only  a  scanty  population,  whereas 
the  old  eastern  mountains,  with  the  lines  of  long 
life  engraved  upon  every  feature,  open  their  arms 
to  man  and  let  him  live  and  prosper. 

It  is  not  enough  that  we  should  picture  merely 
the  four  divisions  of  the  land  of  our  continent. 
We  must  see  how  the  land  meets  the  sea.    In  low 


L^ 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  85 

latitudes  in  both  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  the 
continents   hpve   tended   to  emerge  farther  and 
farther  from  the  sea  during  recent  geological  times. 
Hence  on  the  eastern  side  of  both  North  and  South 
America  from   New  Jersey  to   Brazil  the  ocean 
is  bordered  for  the  most  part  by  coastal  plains, 
uplifted  from  the  sea  only  a  short  time  ago.     On 
the  mountainous  western  side  of  both  continents, 
however,   the  sea  bottom   shelves  downward  so 
steeply  that  its  emergence  does  not  give  rise  tc  a 
plain  but  merely  to  a  steep  slope  on  which  lie  a 
series  of  old  beaches  several  hundred  and  even  one 
thousand  feet  above  the  present  shore  line.    Such 
conditions  are  not  favorable  to  human  progress. 
The  coastal  plains  produced  by  uplift  of  the  land 
may  be  fertile  and  may  furnish  happy  homes  for 
man,  but  they  do  not  permit  ready  access  to  the  sea 
because  they  have  no  harbors.    The  chief  harbor 
of  Mexico  at  Vera  Cruz  is  merely  a  little  nick  in 
the  coast-line  and  could  never  protect  a  great  fleet, 
even  with  the  help  of  its  breakwater.     Where  an 
enterprising   city   like   Los   Angeles    lies    on    the 
uplifted  Pacific  coast,  it  must  spend  millions  in 
wresting  a  harbor  from  the  very  jaws  of  the  sea. 

In  high  latitudes  in  all  parts  of  the  world  the 
land  has  recently  been  submerged  beneath  the  sea. 


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86  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

In  some  places,  especially  those  like  the  coasts 
of  Virginia  and   central   California  which   lie  in 
middle  latitudes,  a  recent  slight  submergence  has 
succeeded  a  previous  large  emergence.    Wherever 
such  sinking  of  the  land  ha=  taken  place,  it  has 
given  rise  to  countless  bays,  gulfs,  capes,  islands, 
and  fiords.     The  ocean  water  has  entered  the 
valleys  and  has  drowned  their  lower  parts.    It  has 
surrounded  the  bases  of  hills  and  left  them  as  is- 
lands; it  has  covered  low  valleys  and  has  created 
long  sounds  where  traffic  may  pass  with  safety 
even  in  great  storms.    Though  much   land  has 
thus  been  lost  which  would  be  god  for  agricul- 
ture, commerce  has  been  wonderfully  stimulated. 
Through  Long  Island  Sound  there  pass  each  day 
hundreds  of  boats  which  again  and  again  would 
suffer  distress  and  loss  if  they  were  not  protected 
from  the  open  sea.    It  is  no  accident  that  of  the 
eight  largest  metropolitan  districts  in  the  United 
States  five  have  grown  up  on  the  shores  of  deep 
inlets  which  are  due  to  the  drowning  of  valleys. 

Nor  must  the  value  of  scenery  be  forgotten  in  a 
survey  such  as  this.  Year  by  year  we  are  learning 
that  in  this  restless,  strenuous  American  life  of  ours 
vacations  are  essential.  We  are  learning,  too,  that 
the  love  of  beauty  is  one  of  Nature's  greatest: 


I    I 


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LiVl 


^m^: 


GEOGRAPHIC  PROVINCES  87 

healers.    Regions  like  the  coast  of  Maine  and  Puget 
Sound,  where  rugged  land  and  life-giving  ocean  in- 
terlock, are  worth  untold  million,  because  of  their 
inspiring  beauty.    It  is  indeed  marvelous  that  in 
the  latitude  of  the  northern  United  States  and 
southern  Canada  so  many  circumstances  favor- 
able to  human  happiness  arc  combined.     Fertile 
soil,  level  plains,  easy  passage  across  the  mountains, 
coal,  iron,  and  other  metals  imbedded  in  the  rocks, 
and  a  stin  'dating  climate,  all  shower  their  blessings 
upon  man.    And  with  all  these  blessings  goes  the 
advantage  of  a  coast  which  welcomes  the  mariner 
and  brings  the  stimulus  of  foreign  lands,  while  at 
the  same  time  it  aflPords  rest  and  inspiration  to  the 
toilers  here  at  home. 


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CHAPTER  IV 


P   I 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION 


I 


No  part  of  the  world  can  be  truly  understood  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  its  garment  of  vcj^etation,  for 
this  determines  not  only  the  nature  of  the  animal 
inhabitants  but  also  the  occupations  ,.  the  major- 
ity of  human  beings.  Although  the  soil  has  much 
to  do  with  the  character  of  vegetation,  climate  has 
infinitely  more.  It  is  temperature  which  causes 
the  moss  and  lichens  of  the  barren  tundras  in  the 
far  north  to  be  replaced  by  orchids,  twining  vines, 
and  mahogany  trees  near  the  equator.  It  is  rain- 
fall which  determines  that  vigorous  forests  shall 
grow  in  the  Appalachians  in  latitudes  where  grass- 
lands prevail  in  the  plains  and  deserts  in  the 
western  cord  ill  era. 

Forests,  grass-lands,  deserts,  represent  the  three 
chief  types  of  vegetation  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
Each  is  a  response  to  certain  well-defined  condi- 
tions of  climate.    Forests  demand  an  abundance  of 

88 


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VEGETA 

OF 

NORTH  AJ 

:  AFtcrUnitud  I 

Scale  t  47,c 


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VEGETATION 
NORTH  !i>lE RICA 

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90  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

individuality.  In  reality,  however,  the  short  turfy 
grass  of  the  far  north  differs  from  the  four-foot 
fronds  of  the  bunchy  saccatcn  grass  of  Arizona, 
and  from  the  far  taller  tufts  of  the  plumed  pampas 
grass,  much  more  than  the  pine  tree  differs  from  the 
palm.  Deserts  vary  even  more  than  either  forests 
or  grass-lands.  The  traveler  in  the  Arizona  desert, 
for  example,  has  been  jogging  across  a  gravelly 
plain  studded  at  intervals  of  a  few  yards  with  little 
bushes  a  foot  high.  The  scenery  is  so  monotonous 
and  the  noon  sunshine  so  warm  that  he  almost  falls 
asleep.  When  he  v.'akes  from  his  day-dream,  so 
weird  are  his  surroundings  that  he  thinks  he  must 
be  in  one  of  the  places  to  which  Sindbad  was  car- 
ried by  the  roc.  The  trail  has  entered  an  open 
forest  of  Joshuas,  as  the  big  tree  yuccas  are  called 
in  Arizona.  Their  shaggy  trunks  and  uncouth 
branches  are  rendered  doubly  unkempt  by  sword- 
like, ashy-yellow  dead  leaves  that  double  back  on 
the  trunk  but  refuse  to  fall  to  the  ground.  At  a 
height  of  from  twelve  to  twenty  feet  each  arm  of 
the  many-branched  candelabrum  ends  in  a  stiff  ro- 
sette of  gray-green  spiky  leaves  as  tough  as  hemp. 
Equally  bizarre  and  much  more  imposing  is  a  des- 
ert "stand"  of  giant  suhuaros,  great  fluted  tree- 
cacti  thirty  feet  or  more  high.     In  spite  of  their 


R 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION        91 

size  the  suhuaros  are  desert  types  as   truly   as 
is  sagebrush. 

In  America  the  most  widespread  type  of  forest 
is  the  evergreen  coniferous  woodland  of  the  north. 
Its  pines,  firs,  spruces,  hemlocks,  and  cedars  which 
are  really  junipers,  cover  most  of  Canada  to- 
gether with  northern  New  England  and  the  re- 
gion south  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior.  At  its 
northern  limit  the  forest  looks  thoroughly  for- 
lorn. The  gnarled  and  stunted  trees  are  thickly 
studded  with  half -dead  branches  bent  down  by  the 
weight  of  snow,  so  that  the  lower  ones  sweep  the 
ground,  while  the  upper  look  tired  and  discouraged 
from  their  struggle  with  an  inclement  climate. 
Farther  south,  however,  the  forest  loses  this  aspect 
of  terrific  struggle.  In  Maine,  for  example,  it  gives 
a  pleasant  impression  of  comfortable  prosperity. 
Wherever  the  trees  have  room  to  grow,  they  are 
full  and  stocky,  and  even  where  they  are  crowded 
together  their  slender  upspringing  trunks  look 
alert  and  energetic.  The  signs  of  death  and  de- 
cay, indecvl,  appear  everywhere  in  fallen  trunks, 
dead  branches,  and  decayed  masses  of  wood,  but 
moss  and  lichens,  twinflowers  and  bunchberries  so 
(juickly  mantle  the  prostrate  trees  that  they  do  not 
seem  like  tokens  of  weakness.    Then,  too,  in  every 


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92  THE  RED  MAN'S  COxNTINENT 

open  space  thousands  of  young  trees  bank  their 
soft  green  masses  so  gracefully  that  one  has  an 
ever-present  sense  of  pleased  surprise  as  he  comes 
upon  this  younger  foliage  out  of  the  dim  aisles 
among  the  bigger  trees. 

Except  on  their  southern  borders  the  great 
northern  forests  are  not  good  as  a  permanent  home 
for  man.  The  snow  lies  so  late  in  the  spring  and 
the  summers  are  so  short  and  cool  that  agriculture 
does  not  prosper.  As  a  home  for  the  fox,  marten, 
weasel,  beaver,  and  many  other  fur-bearing  ani- 
mals, however,  the  coniferous  forests  are  almost 
ideal.  That  is  why  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company 
is  one  of  the  few  great  organizations  which  have 
persisted  and  prospered  from  colonial  times  to  the 
present.  As  long  ago  as  1670  Charles  II  granted 
to  Prince  Rupert  and  seventeen  noblemen  and 
gentlemen  a  charter  so  sweeping  that,  aside  from 
their  own  powers  of  assimilation,  there  was  almost 
no  limit  to  what  the  "Governor  and  Company  of 
Adventurers  of  England  trading  into  Hudson's 
Bay"  might  acquire.  By  1749.  nearly  eighty 
years  after  the  granting  of  the  charter,  however, 
the  Company  had  only  four  or  five  forts  on  the 
coast  of  Hudson  Bay,  with  about  120  regular 
employees.    Nevertheless  the  poor  Indians  were 


1 1 


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THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION       93 

so  ignorant  of  the  value  of  their  furs  and  the  con- 
sequent profits  were  so  large  that,  after  Canada 
had  been  ceded  to  Great  Britain  in  1763,  a  rival 
organization,  the  Northwest  Fur  Company  of  Mon- 
treal, was  established.  Then  there  began  an  era 
that  was  truly  terrible  for  the  Indians  of  the  north- 
ern forest.  In  their  eagerness  to  get  the  valuable 
furs  the  companies  offered  the  Indians  strong 
liquors  in  an  abundance  that  ruined  the  poor  red 
man,  body  and  soul.  Moreover  the  fur-bearing 
animals  were  killed  not  only  in  winter  but  during 
the  breeding  season.  Many  mother  animals  were 
shot  and  their  little  ones  were  left  to  die.  Hence 
in  a  short  time  the  wild  creatures  of  the  great 
northern  forest  were  so  scarce  that  the  Indians 
well-nigh  starved. 

In  spite  of  this  slaughter  of  fur-bearing  animals, 
the  same  Company  still  draws  fat  dividends 
from  the  northern  forest  and  its  furry  inhabitants. 
If  the  forest  had  been  more  habitable,  it  would 
long  ago  have  been  occupied  by  settlers,  as  have 
its  warmer,  southern  portions,  and  the  Company 
would  have  ceased  to  exist.  Aside  from  the  regions 
too  cold  or  too  dry  to  support  any  vegetation  what- 
ever, fe>.  parts  of  the  world  are  more  deadening  to 
civ'ilization  than  the  forests  of  the  far  north.    Near 


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94  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

the  northern  limit  of  the  great  evergreen  forest  of 
North  America  wild  animals  are  so  rare  that  a 
family  of  hunting  Indians  can  scarcely  find  a  living 
in  a  thousand  square  miles.  Today  the  voracious 
maw  of  the  daily  newspaper  is  eating  the  spruce 
and  hemlock  by  means  of  relentless  saws  and 
rattling  pulp-mills.  In  the  wake  of  the  lumber- 
men .settlers  are  tardily  spreading  northward  from 
the  more  favored  tracts  in  northern  New  England 
and  .southern  Canada.  Nevertheless  most  of  the 
evergreen  forests  of  the  north  must  always  remain 
the  home  of  wild  animals  and  trappers,  a  backward 
region  in  which  it  is  easy  for  a  great  fur  company 
to  maintain  a  practical  monopoly. 

Outliers  of  the  pine  forest  extend  far  down  into 
the  United  States.  The  easternmost  lies  in  part 
along  the  Appalachians  and  in  part  along  the 
coastal  plain  from  souther-  New  Jersey  to  Texas. 
The  coastal  forest  is  unlike  the  other  coniferous  for- 
ests in  two  respects,  for  its  distribution  and  growth 
are  not  limited  by  long  winters  but  by  sandy  soil 
which  quickly  becomes  dry.  This  drier  south- 
ern pine  forest  lacks  *he  beauty  of  its  northern 
companion.  Its  trees  are  often  tall  and  stately, 
but  they  are  usually  much  scattered  and  are  sur- 
rounded by  stretches  of  scanty  grass.    There  is  no 


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THE  GARMENT  OF  \  EGETATIOX  95 
trace  of  the  mossy  carpet  and  dense  copses  of  under- 
growth that  add  so  much  to  the  picturesqueness  of 
the  forests  farther  north.  The  unkempt  half-hreetl 
or  Indian  hunter  is  replaced  by  the  prosaic  gatherer 
of  turpentine.  As  the  man  of  the  southern  forests 
shuffles  along  in  blue  or  khaki  overalls  and  carries 
his  buckets  from  tree  to  tree,  he  seems  a  dull  figure 
contrasted  with  the  active  northern  hunter  who 
glides  swiftly  and  silently  from  trap  to  trap  on  his 
rawhide  snowshoes.  Yet  though  the  southern  pine 
forest  may  be  less  picturesque  than  the  northern, 
it  is  more  useful  to  man.  In  spite  of  its  sandy  soil, 
much  of  this  forest  land  is  being  reclaimed,  and  all 
will  some  day  probably  be  covered  by  farms. 

Two  other  outliers  of  the  northern  evergreen 
forest  extend  southward  along  the  cool  heights  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  and  of  the  Pacific  coast 
ranges  of  the  United  States.  In  the  Olympic  and 
Sierra  Nevada  ranges  the  most  western  outlier  of 
this  northern  band  of  vegetation  probably  contains 
the  most  inspiring  forests  of  the  world.  There  grow 
the  vigorous  Oregon  pines,  firs,  and  spruces,  and 
the  still  more  famous  Big  Trees  or  sequoias.  High 
on  the  sides  of  the  Sierra  above  the  yuccas,  the 
live  oaks,  and  the  deciduous  forest  of  the  lower 
slopes,  one  meets  these  Big  Trees.    To  come  upon 


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96  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

*hcm  suddenly  after  a  long,  rough  tramp  over  the 
sunny  lower  slopes  is  the  experience  of  a  lifetime. 
Upward  the  great  trees  rise  sheer  one  hundred 
feet  without  a  branch.  The  huge  fluted  trunks 
encased  in  soft,  red  bark  six  inches  or  a  foot  thick 
are  more  impressive  than  the  columns  of  the 
grandest  cathedral.  It  seems  irreverent  to  speak 
abo .  :  whisper.  Each  tree  is  a  new  wonder.  One 
has  to  walk  around  it  and  study  it  to  appreciate 
its  enormous  size.  Where  a  tree  chances  to  stand 
isolated  so  that  one  can  see  its  full  majesty,  the 
sense  of  awe  is  tempered  by  the  feeling  that  in 
spite  of  their  size  the  trees  have  a  beauty  all  their 
own.  Lifted  to  such  heights,  the  branches  appear 
to  be  covered  with  masses  of  peculiarly  soft  and 
rounded  foliage  like  the  piled-up  banks  of  a  white 
cumulus  cloud  before  a  thunderstorm.  At  the  base 
-1  s  'i  a  tree  tue  eye  is  caught  by  the  sharp,  trian- 
gular outline  of  one  of  its  young  progeny.  The 
lower  branches  sweep  the  ground.  The  foliage  is 
harsh  and  rough.  In  almost  no  other  species  of 
trees  is  there  such  a  change  from  comparatively 
ungraceful  youth  to  a  superbly  beautiful  old  age. 
The  second  great  type  of  American  forest  is 
deciduous.  The  trees  have  broad  leaves  quite  un- 
like the  slender  needles  or  overlapping  scales  of 


:! 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION        97 

the  northern  evergreens.     Each  winter  such  forests 
shed  their  leaves.     Among  the  mountains  where 
the  frosts  come  suddenly,  the  blaze  of  glory  and 
brilliance  of  color  which  herald  the  shetiding  of  the 
leaves  are  surpassed  in  no  other  part  of  the  world. 
Even  the  colors  of  the  Painted  Desert  in  northern 
Arizona  and  the  wonderful  flowcs  of  the  Calif f^rnia 
plains  are  less  i)leasing.    In  the  Painted  Desert 
the  patches  of  red,  yellow,  gray-blue,  white,  pale 
green,  and  black  have  a  garish,  almost  repellent 
appearance.    In  California  the  flame-colored  acres 
of  poppies  in  some  places,  of  white  or  yellow  daisy- 
like flowers  in  others,  or  of  purple  blossoms  else- 
where have   a  softer   expression   than   the   bare 
soil  of  the  desert.    Yet  they  lack  the  delicate  blend- 
ing and  harmony  of  colrrs  which  is  the  great- 
est charm  of  the  autumn  foliage  in  the  deciduous 
forests.    Even  where  the  forests  consist  of  such 
trees  -is  birches,  beeches,  nspens,  or  sycamores, 
whose  leaves  merely  turn  yellow  in  the  fall,  the 
contrast  between  this  color  and  the  green  tint  of 
summer  or  the  bare  branches  of  winter  adds  a 
spice  of  variety  which  is  lacking  in  other  and  m  re 
monotonous  forests. 

From  still  other  points  of  view  the  deciduous 
forest  has  an  almost  unequaled  degree  of  variety. 


■fl 


98 


THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 


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In  one  place  it  consists  of  graceful  little  birches 
whose  white  trunks  shimmering  in  the  twilight 
form  just  the  background  for  ghosts.  Contrast 
them  with  the  oak  forest  hali'  a  mile  away.  There 
the  sense  of  gracefulness  gives  place  to  a  feel. 14,' 
of  strength.  The  lines  are  no  longer  vertical  ut 
horiicontal.  The  krr'tted  elbows  of  the  branch's 
recall  the  keels  of  sturdy  merchantmen  of  bygone 
days.  The  acorns  under  foot  suggest  food  for  the 
herds  of  half-wild  pigs  which  roam  among  the  trees 
in  many  a  soutiicrn  countv.  Of  quite  another  type 
are  the  stately  forests  of  the  Appalachians  where 
splendid  magnolia  and  tulip  trees  spread  their 
bv.-^'id  limbs  aloft  at  heights  of  one  hundred  feet 
or  more. 

Deciduous  forests  grow  in  the  well-balanced 
regions  where  summer  and  winter  approach 
equality,  where  neither  is  unduly  long,  and  where 
neither  is  subject  to  prolonged  drought.  They 
extend  southward  from  central  New  England, 
the  (jrreat  Lakes,  and  Minnesota,  to  Mississippi, 
Arkansas,  and  eastern  Texas.  They  predominate 
even  in  parts  of  such  i)rairie  States  as  Michigan, 
Indiana,  southern  Illinois,  and  southeastern  Mis- 
souri. No  part  of  the  continent  is  more  populous 
or  more  progressive  than  the  regions  once  covered 


La^ 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION   99 

by  deciduous  forests.  In  the  United  States  nearly 
sixty  per  cent  of  the  inhabitants  hve  in  areas 
reclaimed  from  such  forests.  Yet  the  area  of  the 
forests  is  less  than  a  quarter  of  the  three  million 
square  miles  that  make  up  the  United  States. 

In  t!  eir  relation  to  human  life  the  forests  of 
America  differ  far  more  than  do  either  grass-lands 
or  deserts.    In  the  far  north,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
pine  forests  furnish  one  of  the  least  favorable  en- 
vironments.    In  middle  latitudes  the  deciduous 
forests  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  furnish  the 
most  highly  favored  of  the  homes  of  man.    Still 
farther  southward  the  increasing  luxuriance  of  the 
forests,  especially  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  renders 
them   less   and  less   favorable   to  mankind.     In 
southern  Mexico  and  Yucatan  the  stately  equa- 
torial rain  forest,  the  most  exuberant  of  all  types 
of  vegetation  and  the  most  unconquerable  by  man, 
makes  its  appearance.    It  forms  a  discontinuous 
belt  along  the  wet  east  coast  and  on  tlie  lower 
slopes  of  the  mountains  from  southern  Yucatan  to 
Venezuela.     Then  it  is  interrupted  by  the  grass- 
lands of  the  Orinoco,  but  revives  again  in  still 
greater  magnificence  in  the  Guianas.     Thence  it 
stretches  not  only  along  the  coast  but  far  into  the 
little  known  interior  of  the  Great  Amazon  basin, 


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100         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

while  southward  it  borders  all  the  coast  as  far  as 
southern  Brazil.  In  the  Amazon  basin  't  reaches 
its  highest  development  and  becomes  the  crowning 
glory  of  the  vegetable  world,  the  most  baffling 
obstacle  to  human  progress. 

Except  in  its  evil  effects  on  man,  the  equatorial 
rain  forest  is  the  antithesis  of  the  forests  of  the 
extreme  north.  The  equatorial  trees  are  hardwood 
giants,  broad  leaved,  bright  flowered,  and  often 
fruit-bearing.  The  northern  trees  are  softwood 
dwarfs,  needle-leaved,  flowerless,  and  cone-bearing. 
The  equatorial  trees  are  often  branchless  for  one 
hundred  feet,  but  spread  at  the  top  into  a  broad 
overarching  canopy  which  shuts  out  the  sun 
perpetually.  The  northern  trees  form  sharp  httle 
pyramids  with  low,  widely  spreading  branches  at 
the  base  and  only  short  twigs  at  the  top.  In  the 
equatorial  forests  there  is  almost  no  underbrush. 
The  animals,  such  as  monkeys,  snakes,  parrots, 
and  brilliant  insects,  live  chiefly  in  the  lofty  tree- 
tops.  In  the  northern  forests  there  is  almost 
nothing  except  underbrush,  and  the  foxes,  rabbits, 
weasels,  ptarmigans,  and  mosquitoes  live  close  to 
the  ground  in  the  shelter  of  the  branches.  Both 
forests  are  alike,  however,  in  being  practically  un- 
inhabited by  man.    Each  is  peopled  only  by  primi- 


i  i 


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THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION      101 

tive  nomadic  hunters  who  stand  at  the  very  bottom 
in  the  scale  of  civilization. 

Aside  from  the  rain  forest  there  are  two  other 
types  in   tropica!   countries  —  jungle  and  scrub. 
The  distinction  between  rain  forest,  jungle,  and 
scrub  is  due  to  the  amount  and   the  season  of 
rainfall.    An  understanding  of  this  distinction  not 
only  explains  many  things  in  the  present  condition 
of  Latin  America  but  also  in  the  history  of  pre- 
Columbian  Ccitral  America.    Forests,  as  we  have 
seen,  require  that  the  ground  be  moist  throughout 
practically  the  whole  of  the  season  that  is  warm 
enough  for  growth.    Since  the  warm  season  lasts 
throughout   the  year   withm   the   tropics,   <lense 
forests  composed  of  uniformly  large  trees  corre- 
sponding to  our  oaks,  maples,  and  beeches  will  not 
thrive  unless  the  ground  is  wet  most  of  the  time. 
Of  course  there  may  be  no  rain  for  a  few  weeks, 
but  there  must  be  no  long  and  regularly  recurrent 
periods  of  drought.    Smaller  trees  and  such  species 
as  the  cocoanut  palm  are  nmch  hss  exacting  and 
will  flourish  even  if  there  is  a  dry  period  of  several 
months.     Still  smaller,  bushy  species  will  thrive 
even  when  the  rainfall  lasts  only  two  or  three 
months.    Hence  where  the  rainy  season  lasts  most 
of  the  year,  rain  forest  prevails;  where  the  rainy 


'ill 


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102         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

and  tin-  -isons  do  not  diflFer  greatly  in  length, 
tropica  ,igle  is  the  dominant  growth;  and  where 
the  rainy  season  is  short  and  the  dry  season  long, 
the  jungle  degenerates  into  scrub  or  bush. 

The  relation  of  scrub,  jungle,  and  rain  forest  is 
well  illustrated  in  Yucatan,  where  the  ancient 
Mayas  reared  their  stately  temples.  On  the 
northern  coast  the  annual  rainfall  is  only  ten  or 
fifteen  inches  and  is  concentrated  largely  in  our 
summer  months.  There  the  country  is  covered 
with  scrubby  bushes  six  to  ten  feet  high.  These 
are  beautifully  green  during  the  rainy  season  from 
June  to  October,  but  later  in  the  year  lose  almost 
all  their  leaves.  The  landscape  would  be  much 
like  that  of  a  thick,  bushy  pasture  in  the  United 
States  at  the  same  season,  were  it  not  that  in  the 
late  winter  and  early  spring  some  of  the  bushes 
bear  brilliant  red,  yellow,  or  v.hite  flowers.  As  one 
goes  inland  from  the  north  coast  of  Yucatan  the 
rainfall  increases.  The  bushes  become  taller  and 
denser,  trees  twenty  feet  high  become  numerous, 
and  many  rise  thirty  or  forty  feet  or  even  higher. 
Tliis  is  the  jungle.  Its  smaller  portions  suggest  a 
.seconrl  growth  of  timber  in  the  deciduous  forests 
of  the  United  States  fifteen  or  twenty  years  after 
the  cutting  of  the  original  forest,  but  here  there 


i  r 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION  103 
is  much  more  evidence  of  rapid  growth.  A  few 
species  of  bushes  and  trees  may  remain  green 
throughout  the  year,  but  during  the  dry  season 
most  of  the  jungle  plants  lose  their  leaves,  at  least 
in  part. 

With  every  mile  that  one  advances  into  the  more 
rainy  interior,   the  jungle  becomes  greener  and 
fresher,  the  density  of  the  lower  growths  increases, 
and  the  proportion  of  large  trees  becomes  greater 
until  finally  jungle  gives  place  to  genuine  forest. 
There  many  of  the  trees  remain  green  throughout 
the  year.    They  rise  to  heights  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet 
even  on  the  borders  of  their  province,  and  at  the 
top  form  a  canopy  so  thick  that  the  ground  is  shady 
most  of  the  time.    Even  in  the  drier  part  of  the 
year  when  some  of  the  leaves  have  fallen,  the  rays 
of  the  sun  scarcely  reach  the  ground  until  nine  or 
ten  o'clock  in  the  morning.    Even  at  high  noon 
the  sunUght  straggles  through  only  in  small  patches. 
Long,  sinuous  lianas,  often  queerly  braided,  hang 
down  from  the  trees;  epiphytes  and  various  para- 
sitic growths  add  their  strange  green  and  red  to  the 
complex  variety  of  vegetation.    Young  palms  grow 
up  almost  in  a  day  and  block  a  trail  which  was 
hewn  out  with  much  labor  only  a  few  months 
before.    Wherever  the  death   of  old  trees  forms 


'if* 

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■-\ 


104  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

an  opening,  a  thousand  seedlings  begin  a  fierce 
race  to  reach  the  light.  Everywhere  the  dominant 
note  is  intensely  vigorous  life,  rapid  growth,  and 
quick  decay. 

In  their  effect  on  man,  the  three  forms  of  tropical 
forest  are  very  different.  In  the  genuine  rain 
forest  agriculture  is  almost  impossible.  Not  only 
does  the  poor  native  find  himself  baffled  in  the  face 
of  Nature,  but  the  white  man  is  equally  at  a  loss. 
Many  things  combine  to  produce  this  result. 
Chief  among  them  are  malaria  and  other  tropical 
diseases.  When  a  few  miles  of  railroad  were  being 
built  through  a  strip  of  tropical  forest  along  the 
coast  of  eastern  Guatemala,  it  was  impossible  to 
keep  the  laborers  more  than  twenty  days  at  a  time; 
indeed,  unless  they  were  sent  away  at  the  end  of 
three  weeks,  they  were  almost  sure  to  be  stricken 
with  virulent  malarial  fevers  from  which  many 
died.  An  equally  potent  enemy  of  agriculture  is 
the  vegetation  itself.  Imagine  the  difficulty  of 
cultivating  a  garden  in  a  place  where  the  weeds 
grow  all  the  time  and  where  many  of  them  reach  a 
height  of  ten  or  twenty  feet  in  a  single  year.  Per- 
haps there  are  people  in  the  world  who  might  culti- 
vate such  a  region  and  raise  marvelous  crops,  but 
they  are  not  the  indolent  people  of  tropical  Amer- 


IV 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION      105 

ica;  and  it  is  in  fact  doubtful  wliether  any  kind  of 
people  could  live  permanently  in  the  tropical  forest 
and  retain  energy  enough  to  carry  on  cultivation. 
Nowhere  in  the  world  is  there  such  steady,  damp 
heat  as  in  these   shadowy,  windless   depths  far 
below  the  lofty  tops  at"  the  rain  forest.    Nowhere  is 
there  greater  disinclination  to  work  than  among 
the  people  who  dwell  in  this  region.   Consequently 
in  the  vast  rain  forests  of  the  Amazon  basin  and 
in  similar  small  forests  as  far  north  as  Central 
America,  there  are  today  practically   no  inhabi- 
tants except  a  mere  handful  of  the  poorest  and 
most  degraded  people  in  the  world.    Yet  in  ancient 
times  the  northern  border  of  the  rain  forest  was  the 
seat  of  America's  most  advanced  civilization.   The 
explanation  of  this  contradiction  will  appear  later. ' 
Tropical  jungle  borders  the  rain  forest  all  the 
way  from  southern  Mexico  to  southern  Brazil.    It 
treats  man  far  better  than  does  the  rain  forest. 
In  marked  contrast  to  its  more  stately  neighbor,  it 
conta'ns  abundant  game.     Wild  fruits  ripen  at 
almost  all  seasons,    A  few  banana  plants  and  palm 
trees  will  well-nigh  support  a  family.     If  corn  is 
planted  in  a  clearing,  the  leturn  is  large  in  propor- 
tion to  the  labor.    So  long  as  the  population  is  not 

■See  pp.  169-171. 


■<  -I 


i, 


J: 


f  r 


106  THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

too  dense,  life  is  so  easy  that  there  is  little  to  stimu- 
late progress.    Hence,  although  the  people  of  the 
jungle  are  fairly  numerous,  they  have  never  played 
much  part  in  history.     Far  more  important  is  the 
role  of  those  living  in  the  tropical  lands  where 
scrub  is  the  prevailing  growth.    In  our  day,  for 
example,   few    tropical    lowlands    are   more   pro- 
gressive than  the  narrow  coastal  strip  of  north- 
ern Yucatan.    There  on  the  border  between  jungle 
and  scrub  the  vegetation  does  not  thrive  suflB- 
ciently  to  make  life  easy  for  the  chocolate-colored 
natives.    Effort  is  required  if  they  would  make  a 
Uving.  yet  the  effort  is  not  so  great  as  to  be  beyond 
t.he  capacity  of  the  indolent  people  of  the  tropics. 


•■  :    \ 


Leaving  the  forests,  let  us  step  out  into  the 
broad,  breezy  grass-lands.  One  would  scarcely  ex- 
pect that  a  journ.y  poleward  out  of  the  forest  of 
northern  Canada  would  lead  to  an  improvement 
in  the  conditions  of  human  life,  yet  such  is  the  case. 
Where  the  growing  season  becomes  so  short  that 
even  the  hardiest  trees  disappear,  grassy  tundras 
replace  the  forest.  By  furnishing  food  for  such 
animals  as  the  musk-ox,  they  are  a  great  help  to 
the  handful  of  scattered  Indians  who  dwell  on  the 
northern  edge  of  the  forest.    In  summer,  when  the 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION      107 

animals  grow  fat  on  the  short  nutritious  grass, 
the  Indians  follow  them  out  into  the  open  country 
and  hunt  them  vigorously  for  food  and  skins  to 
sustain  life  through  the  long  dreary  winter.  In 
many  cases  the  hunters  would  advance  much  farther 
into  the  grass-lands  were  it  not  that  the  abundant 
musk-oxen  tempt  the  Eskimo  of  the  seacoast  also 
to  leave  their  homes  and  both  sides  fear  bloody 
encounters. 

With  the  growth  of  civilization  the  advantage  of 
the  northern  grass-lands  over  the  northern  forests 
becomes  still  more  apparent.  The  domestic  rein- 
deer is  beginning  to  replace  the  wild  musk-ox.  The 
reindeer  people,  like  the  Indian  and  Eskimo 
hunters,  must  be  nomadic.  Nevertheless  their 
mode  of  life  permits  them  to  live  in  much  greater 
numbers  and  on  a  much  higher  plane  of  civiliza- 
tion than  the  hunters.  Since  they  hunt  the  fur- 
bearing  animals  in  the  neighboring  forests  during 
the  winter,  they  diminish  the  food  supply  of  the 
hunters  who  dwell  permanently  in  the  forest,  and 
thus  make  their  life  still  more  difficult.  The  north- 
ern forests  bid  fair  to  decline  in  population  rather 
than  increase.  In  this  New  World  of  ours,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  the  almost  uninhabited  forest 
regions  of  the  far  north  and  of  the  equator  are 


», 


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1.  :    A 


108  THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

probably  more  than  twice  as  large  as  the  desert 
areas  with  equally  sparse  population. 

South  of  the  tundras  the  grass-lands  have  a  still 
greater  advantage  over  the  forests.  In  the  forest 
region  of  the  Laurentian  highland  abundant  snow 
lasts  far  into  the  spring  and  keeps  the  ground  so 
wet  and  cold  that  no  crops  can  be  i  aised.  More- 
over, because  of  the  still  greater  abundance  of 
snow  in  former  times,  the  largest  of  ice  sheets,  as 
we  have  seen,  accumulated  there  during  the  Glacial 
Period  and  scraped  away  most  of  the  soil.  The 
grassy  plains,  on  the  contrary,  are  favored  not 
only  by  a  deep,  rich  soil,  much  of  which  was  laid 
down  by  the  ice,  but  by  the  relative  absence  of 
snow  in  winter  and  the  consequent  rapidity  with 
which  the  ground  becomes  warm  in  the  spring. 
Hence  the  Canadian  plains  from  the  United  States 
boundary  northward  to  latitude  57°  contain  a 
prosperous  agricultural  population  of  over  a  million 
people,  while  the  far  larger  forested  areas  in  the 
same  latitude  support  only  a  few  thousand. 

The  question  is  often  asked  why,  in  a  state  of 
nature,  trees  are  so  scarce  on  the  prairies  —  in 
Iowa,  for  instance  —  although  they  thrive  when 
planted.  In  answer  we  are  often  told  that  up 
to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  such  vast 


h 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION       109 

herds  of  buffaloes  roamed  the  prairies  that  seedling 
trees  could  never  get  a  chance  to  grow.  It  is  also 
said  that  prairie  fires  sweeping  across  the  plains 
destroyed  tlie  little  trees  whenever  they  sprouted. 
Doubtless  the  buffaloes  and  the  fires  helped  to 
prevent  forest  growth,  but  another  factor  appv  ars 
to  be  still  more  important.  All  the  States  between 
the  Mississippi  River  and  the  Rocky  Mountains 
receive  much  more  rain  in  summer  than  in  winter. 
But  as  the  soil  is  comparatively  dry  in  the  spring 
when  the  trees  begin  their  growth,  they  are  handi- 
capped. They  could  grow  if  nothing  else  interfered 
with  them,  just  as  peas  will  grow  in  a  garden  if  the 
weeds  are  kept  out.  If  peas,  however,  are  left 
uncared  for,  the  weeds  gain  the  upper  hand  and 
there  are  no  peas  the  second  year.  If  the  weeds 
are  left  to  contend  with  grass,  the  grass  in  the  end 
prevails.  In  the  eastern  forest  region,  if  the  grass 
be  left  to  itself,  small  trees  soon  spring  up  in  its 
midst.  In  half  a  century  a  field  of  grass  goes  back 
to  forest  because  trees  are  especially  favored  by  the 
climate.  In  the  same  way  in  the  prairies,  grass  is 
especially  favored,  for  it  is  not  weakened  by  the 
spring  drought,  and  it  grows  abundantly  until  it 
forms  the  wonderful  stretches  of  waving  green 
where  the  buffalo  once  grew  fat.     Moreover  the 


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I       •  i 

.    ■ 


1       ' 


110         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

fine  glacial  soil  of  the  prairies  is  so  clayey  and  com- 
pact that  the  roots  of  trees  cannot  easily  penetrate 
it.  Since  grasses  send  their  roots  only  into  the 
more  friable  upper  layers  of  soil,  they  possess 
another  great  advantage  over  the  trees. 

Far  to  the  south  of  the  prairies  lie  the  grass-lands 
of  tropical  America,  of  which  the  llanos  of  the 
Orinoco  furnish  a  good  example.  Almost  every- 
where their  plumed  grasses  have  been  left  to  grow 
undisturbed  by  the  plough,  and  even  grazing  ani- 
mals are  scarce.  These  extremely  flat  plains  are 
flooded  for  months  in  the  rainy  season  from  May 
to  October  and  are  parched  in  the  dry  season  that 
follows.  As  trees  cannot  endure  such  extremes, 
grasses  are  the  prevailing  growth.  Elsewhere 
the  nature  of  the  soil  causes  many  other  grassy 
tracts  to  be  scattered  among  the  tropical  jungle 
and  forest.  Trees  are  at  a  disadvantage  both  in 
porous,  sandy  soils,  where  the  water  drains  away 
too  rapidly,  and  in  clayey  soil,  where  it  is  held 
so  long  that  the  ground  is  saturated  for  weeks  or 
months  at  a  time.  South  of  the  tropical  portion 
of  South  America  the  vast  pampas  of  Argentina 
closely  resendjie  the  North  American  prairies  and 
the  drier  plains  to  the  west  of  them.  Grain  in 
the  east  and  cattle  in  the  wt  st  are  fast  causing  the 


/I 


LsSl 


THE  (;ARMENT  of  vegetation       111 

disapp  xrance  of  those  great  tussocks  of  tufletl 
grasses  eight  or  nine  feet  high  which  hold  among 
grasses  a  position  analogous  to  that  of  the  Big 
Trees  of  CaHfornia  among  trees  of  lower  growth. 


It  is  often  said  that  America  has  no  real  deserts. 
This  is  true  in  the  sense  that  there  are  no  regions 
such  as  are  found  in  Asia  and  Africa  where  one  can 
travel  a  hundred  miles  at  a  stretch  and  scarcely  see 
a  sign  of  vegetation  —  nothing  but  barren  gravel, 
graceful  wavy  sand  dunes,  hard  wind-swept  clay, 
or  still  harder  rock  salt  broken  into  rough  bIo<ks 
with  upturned  edges.  In  the  broader  sense  of  the 
term,  however,  America  has  an  abundance  of  des- 
erts —  regions  which  bear  a  thin  cover  of  bushy 
vegetation  but  are  too  dry  for  agriculture  without 
irrigation.  On  the  north  such  deserts  begin  in 
southern  Canada  where  a  dry  region  abounding  in 
small  salt  lakes  lies  at  the  eastern  base  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  In  the  United  States  the  deserts  lie 
almost  wholly  between  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  the 
Rocky  Mountain  ranges,  which  keep  out  any  mois- 
ture that  might  come  from  either  the  west  or  the 
east.  Beginning  on  the  north  with  the  sage-brush 
j)lateau  of  southern  Washington,  the  desert  ex- 
pands to  a  width  of  seven  hundred  miles  in  the 


r, 


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I 

I         11 


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112         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

gray,  sage-covered  basins  of  Nevada  and  Utah. 
In  southern  CaUfornia  and  Arizona  the  sage-brush 
gives  place  to  smaller  forms  like  the  salt-bush, 
and  the  desert  assumes  a  sterner  aspect.  Next 
comes  the  cactus  desert  extending  from  Arizona 
far  south  into  Mexico.  One  of  the  notable  features 
of  the  desert  is  the  extreme  heat  of  certain  portions. 
Close  to  the  Nevada  bo'-der  in  southern  California, 
Death  Valley,  250  feet  below  sea-level,  is  the  hot- 
test place  in  America.  There  alone  among  the 
American  regions  familiar  to  the  writer  does  one 
have  that  feeling  of  intense,  overpowering  aridity 
which  prevails  so  often  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia  and 
Central  Asia.  Some  years  ago  a  Weather  Bureau 
thermometer  was  installed  in  Death  Valley  at  Fur- 
nace Creek,  where  the  only  flowing  water  in  more 
than  a  hundred  miles  supports  a  depressing  little 
ranch.  There  one  or  two  white  men,  helped  by  a 
few  Indians,  raise  alfalfa,  which  they  sell  at  exor- 
bitant prices  to  deluded  prospectors  searching  for 
riches  which  they  never  find.  Though  the  terrible 
heat  ruins  the  health  of  the  white  men  in  a  year  or 
two,  so  that  they  have  to  move  away,  they  have 
succeeded  in  keeping  a  thermometer  record  for 
some  years.  No  other  properly  exposed,  out-of- 
door  thermometer  in  the  United  States,  or  perhaps 


b  i1  t 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION      113 

in  the  world,  is  so  familiar  with  a  temperature  of 
100°  F,  or  more.  During  the  period  of  not  quite 
fifteen  hundred  days  from  the  spring  of  1911  to 
May,  1915,  a  maximum  temperature  of  100°  F. 
or  more  was  reached  on  five  hundred  and  forty- 
eight  days,  or  more  than  one-third  of  the  time.  On 
July  10,  1913,  the  mf  rcury  rose  to  134°  F.  and 
touched  the  top  of  the  tube.  How  much  higher  it 
might  have  gone  no  one  can  tell.  That  day  marks 
the  limit  of  temperature  yet  reached  in  this  coun- 
try according  to  oflScial  records.  In  the  summer  of 
1914  there  was  one  night  when  the  thermometer 
dropped  only  to  114°  F.,  having  been  128°  F.  at 
noon.  The  branches  of  a  pepper-tree  whose  roots 
had  been  freshly  watered  wilted  as  a  flower  wilts 
when  broken  from  the  stalk. 

East  and  south  of  Death  Valley  lies  the  most 
interesting  section  of  the  American  desert,  the  so- 
called  succulent  desert  of  southern  Arizona  and 
northern  Mexico.  There  in  greatest  profusion 
grow  the  cacti,  perhaps  the  latest  and  most  highly 
specialized  of  all  the  great  families  of  plants. 
There  occur  such  strange  scenes  as  the  "forests" 
of  suhuaros,  whose  giant  columns  have  already 
been  described.  Their  beautiful  crowns  of  large 
white  flowers  produce  a  fruit  which  is  one  of  the 


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114         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

mainstays  of  the  Papagos  and  other  Indians  of  the 
regions.  In  this  same  region  the  yucca  is  highly 
developed,  and  its  tall  stalks  of  white  or  greenish 
flowers  make  the  desert  appear  like  a  flower  garden. 
In  fact  this  whole  desert,  thanks  to  light  rains  in 
summer  as  well  as  winter,  appears  extraordinarily 
green  and  prosperous.  Its  fair  appearance  has 
deceived  many  a  poor  settler  who  has  vainly  tried 
to  cultivate  it. 

Farther  south  the  deserts  of  America  are  largely 
confined  to  plateaus  like  those  of  Mexico  and  Peru 
or  to  basins  sheltered  on  all  sides  from  rain-bearing 
winds.  In  such  basins  the  suddenness  of  the  transi- 
tion from  one  type  of  vegetation  to  another  is  as- 
tonishing. In  Guatemala,  for  instance,  the  coast 
is  bordered  by  thick  jungle  which  quickly  gives 
place  to  magnificent  rain  forest  a  few  miles  inland. 
This  continues  two  or  three  score  miles  from  the 
coast  until  a  point  is  reached  where  mountains 
begin  to  obstruct  the  rain-bearing  trade-winds. 
At  once  the  rain  forest  gives  place  to  jungle;  in  a 
few  miles  jungle  in  its  turn  is  replaced  by  scrub; 
and  shortly  the  scrub  degenerates  to  mere  desert 
bush.  Then  in  another  fifty  miles  one  rises  to  the 
main  plateau  passing  once  more  through  scrub. 
This  time  the  scrub  gives  place  to  grass-lands 


'If     ? 


•^T^-.-m-^rm 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION      115 

diversified  by  deciduous  trees  and  pines  which  give 
the  country  a  distinctly  temperate  aspect.  On 
such  plateaus  the  chief  civilization  of  the  tropical 
Latin-American  countries  now  centers.  In  the 
past,  however,  the  plateaus  were  far  surpassed  by 
the  Maya  lowlands  of  Yucatan  and  Guatemala. 

We  are  wont  to  think  of  deserts  as  places  where 
the  plants  are  of  few  kinds  und  not  much  crowded. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  an  ordinary  desert  supports  a 
much  greater  variety  of  plants  than  does  either  a 
forest  or  a  prairie.  The  reason  is  simple.  Every 
desert  contains  wet  spots  near  springs  or  in  swamps. 
Such  places  abound  with  all  sorts  of  water-loving 
plants,  ihe  deserts  also  contain  a  few  valleys 
where  the  larger  streams  keep  the  ground  moist 
at  all  seasons.  In  such  places  the  variety  of  trees 
is  iis  great  as  in  many  forests.  Moreover  almost  all 
deserts  have  short  periods  of  abundant  moisture. 
At  such  times  the  seeds  of  all  sorts  of  little  annual 
plants,  including  grasses,  daisies,  lupines,  and  a 
host  of  others,  sprout  quickly,  and  give  rise  to  a 
carpet  of  vegetation  as  varied  and  beautiful  as 
that  of  the  prairie.  Thus  the  desert  has  not  only 
its  own  peculiar  bushes  and  succulents  but  many  of 
the  products  of  vegetation  in  swamps,  grass-lands, 
and  forests. 


:kl 


Vs 


A, 


iis^twm^?^^^s^^Mm^.v^mm 


116         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

Though  much  of  the  ground  is  bare  in  the  desert, 
the  plants  are  actually  crowded  together  as  closely 
as  possible.  The  showers  of  such  regions  are 
usually  so  brief  that  they  merely  wet  the  surface. 
At  a  depth  of  a  foot  or  more  the  soil  of  many 
deserts  never  becomes  moist  from  year's  end  to 
year's  end.  It  is  useless  for  plants  to  send  their 
roots  deep  down  under  such  circumstances,  for 
they  might  not  reach  water  for  a  hundred  feet. 
Their  only  recourse  is  to  spread  horizontally.  The 
farther  they  spread,  the  more  water  they  can  ab- 
sorb after  the  scanty  showers.  Ht  nee  the  plants 
of  the  desert  throttle  one  another  by  extending 
their  roots  horizontally,  just  as  those  of  the  forest 
kill  one  another  by  springing  rapidly  upward  and 
shutting  out  the  light. 

Vegetation,  whether  in  forests,  grass-lands,  or 
deserts,  is  the  primary  source  of  human  suste- 
nance. Without  it  man  would  perish  miserably; 
and  where  it  is  deficient,  he  cannot  rise  to  great 
heights  in  the  scale  of  civilization.  Yet  strangely 
enough  the  scantiness  of  the  vegetation  of  the 
deserts  was  a  great  help  in  the  ascent  of  man. 
Only  in  dry  regions  could  primitive  man  compete 
with  nature  in  fostering  the  right  kind  of  vege- 
tation.   In  such  regions  arose  the  nations  which 


THE  GARMENT  OF  VEGETATION      117 

first  practised  agriculture.  There  man  became 
comparatively  civilized  while  his  contempora- 
ries were  still  nomadic  hunters  in  the  grass-lands 
and  the  forests. 


I 


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Jtlt 


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I'    '^ 

i 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   RED  MAN   IN   AMEKICA 

When  the  white  man  first  explored  America,  the 
parts  of  the  continent  that  had  made  most  progress 
were  by  no  means  those  that  are  most  advanced 
today. '  None  of  the  inhabitants,  to  be  sure,  had 
risen  above  barbarism.  Yet  certain  nations  or 
tribes  had  advanced  much  higher  than  others. 
There  was  a  great  contrast,  for  example,  between 
the  well-organized  barbarians  of  Peru  and  the  al- 
most completely  unorganized  Athapascan  savages 
near  Hudson  Bay. 

In  the  northern  continent  aboriginal  America 
reached  its  highest  development  in  three  typical 

'  In  the  present  chapter  most  of  the  facts  as  to  the  Indians  north  of 
Mexico  are  taken  from  the  admirable  Handbook  of  American  Indians 
North  of  Mexico,  edited  by  F.  W.  Hodge,  Smithsonian  Institution, 
Bureau  of  Ethnology,  Bulletin  ."iO,  Washington,  1907,  two  volumes. 
In  summing  up  the  character  and  achievements  of  the  Indians  I  have 
drawn  also  on  other  sources,  but  have  everywhere  taken  pains  to  make 
no  statements  which  are  not  abundantly  supported  by  this  authorita- 
tive publication.  In  some  cases  I  have  not  hesitated  to  paraphrase 
considerable  portions  of  its  articles. 

IIH 


I 


AZTEC  CALENDAR  STONE.  UNEARTHED  IN  EXCAVA- 
TIONS IN  THE  CITY  OF  MEXICO  IN  1790,  AND  BUILT 
INTO  THE  BASE  OF  THE  OUTER  WALL  OF  THE  CATHE- 
DRAL. WHERE  IT  IS  NOW  EXPOSED  TO  VIEW. 

Drawing  in  volume  iv.  Hubert  Howe  Bancioft'i  Work*. 


<  «1 


I  ' 


w^mfs^i!^imaf^mi'^^m,.^^>Mtt:.^^^'^m.^i 


^^^^^^^K^K^R' 

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Bfl 

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■"      II    -'I,,, ■„,,;)!      ,,;,,||      ,1   „|,J| 


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THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  119 

environments.  The  first  of  these  regions  centered 
in  the  valley  of  Mexico  where  dwelt  the  Aztecs, 
but  it  extended  as  far  north  as  the  Pueblos  in  Ari- 
zona and  New  Mexico.  The  special  feature  of  the 
environment  was  the  relatively  dry,  warm  climate 
with  the  chief  rainfall  in  summer.  The  Indians 
Uving  in  this  environment  were  notable  for  their 
comparatively  high  social  organization  and  for 
religious  ceremonials  whose  elaborateness  has 
rarely  been  surpassed.  On  the  whole,  the  people 
of  this  summer  rain  or  Mexican  type  were  not 
warlike  and  offered  little  resistance  to  European 
conquest.  Some  tribes,  to  be  sure,  fought  fiercely 
at  first,  but  yielded  within  a  few  years;  the  rest 
submitted  to  the  lordly  Spaniards  almost  without 
a  murmur.  Their  civilization,  if  such  we  may  call 
it,  had  long  ago  seen  its  best  days.  The  period  of 
energy  and  progress  had  passed,  and  a  time  of 
inertia  and  decay  had  set  in. 

A  century  after  the  Spaniards  had  overcome  the 
aborigines  of  Mexico,  other  Europeans  —  French, 
English,  and  Dutch  —  came  into  contact  with  a 
sturdier  type  of  red  man,  best  represented  by  the 
Iroquois  or  Five  Nations  of  central  New  York. 
This  more  active  type  dwelt  in  a  physical  environ- 
ment notable  for  two  features  —  the  abundance  of 


Ml 

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1 

11 


180         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

cyclonic  storms  bringing  rain  or  snow  at  all  seasons 
and  the  deciduous  forest  which  thickly  covered 
the  whole  region.  Unlike  the  Mexican,  the  civili- 
zation of  the  Iroquois  was  young,  vigorous,  and 
growing.  It  had  not  learned  to  express  itself  in 
durable  architectural  forms  like  those  of  Mexico, 
nor  could  it  rival  the  older  type  in  social  and 
religious  organization.  In  political  organization, 
however,  the  Five  Nations  had  surpassed  the  other 
aboriginal  peoples  of  North  America.  When  the 
white  man  became  acquainted  with  the  Iroquois 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  he  found  five  of  their 
tribes  organized  into  a  remarkable  confederation 
whose  avowed  object  was  to  abolish  war  among 
themselves  and  to  secure  to  all  the  members  the 
peaceful  exercise  c'.  their  rights  and  privileges. 
So  well  was  the  confederation  organized  that,  in 
spite  of  war  with  its  enemies,  it  persisted  for  at 
least  two  hundred  years. 

One  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  Iroquois 
was  their  tremendous  energy.  They  were  so  ener- 
getic that  they  pursued  their  enemies  with  an 
implacable  relentlessness  similar  to  the  restless 
eagerness  with  which  the  people  of  the  region  from 
New  York  to  Chicago  now  pursue  their  business 
enterprises.    This  led  the  Iroquois  to  torture  their 


/ 


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1' 


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NOB' 

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ptAiN^  Oi<flwAv  Namai 


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THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  121 

prisoners  with  the  utmost  ingenuity  and  cnielty. 
Not  only  did  the  savages  burn  and  mutilate  their 
captives,  but  they  sometimes  added  the  last  re- 
finement of  torture  by  compelling  the  suflFering 
wretches  to  eat  pieces  of  flesh  cut  from  their  own 
bodies.  Energy  may  lead  to  high  civilization,  but 
it  may  also  lead  to  excesses  of  evil. 

The  third  prominent  aboriginal  type  was  that 
of  the  fishermen  of  the  coast  of  British  Colum- 
bia, especially  the  Haidas  of  the  Queen  Chariotte 
Islands.     The  most  important  features  of  their 
environment  were  the  submerged  coast  with  its 
easy  navigation,  the  mild  oceanic  climate,  and  the 
dense  pine  forests.    The  Haidas,  like  the  Iroquois, 
appear  to  have  been  a  people  who  were  still  ad- 
vancing.   Such  as  it  was,  their  greatness  was  ap- 
parently the  product  of  their  own  ingenuity  and 
not,  like  that  of  the  Mexicans,  an  inheritance  from 
a  greater  past.    The  Haidas  lacked  the  relentless 
energy  of  the  Iroquois  and  shared  the  compara- 
tively gentle  character  which  prevailed  among  all 
the  Indians  along  the  Pacific  Coast.    They  were  by 
no  means  weaklings,  however.    Commercially,  for 
instance,  they  seem  to  have  been  more  advanced 
than  any  North  American  tribe  except  those  in  the 
Mexican  area.    In  architecture  they  stood  equally 


I'll 


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v 


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I 


11 


1l 


122         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

high.    We  are  prone  to  think  of  the  Mexicans 
as  the  best  architects  among  the  aborigines,  but 
when  the  white  man  came  even  the  Aztecs  were 
merely  imitating    the   work    of    their    predeces- 
sors.   The  Haidas,  on  the  contrary,  were  showing 
real  originality.    They  had  no  stone  with  which  to 
build,  for  their  country  is  so  densely  forested  that 
stone  is  rarely  visible.     They  were  remarkably 
skilltul,  however,  in  hewing  great  beams  from  the 
forest.    With  these  they  constructed  houses  whose 
carved   totem   poles   and   graceful   facades  gave 
promise  of  an  architecture  of  great  beauty.   Tak- 
ing into  account  the  difficulties  presented  by  a  ma- 
terial which  was  not  durable  and  by  tools  which 
were  nothing  but  bits  of  stone,  we  must  regard 
their  totem  poles  and  mural  decorations  as  real 
contributions  to  primitive  architecture. 

In  addition  to  these  three  highest  types  of  the 
red  man  there  were  many  others.  Each,  as  we 
shall  see,  owed  its  peculiarities  largely  to  the  physi- 
cal surroundings  in  which  it  lived.  Of  course 
different  tribes  possessed  different  degrees  of  innate 
ability,  but  the  chief  differences  in  their  habits  and 
mode  of  life  arose  from  the  topography,  the  climate, 
the  plants,  and  the  animals  which  formed  the 
geographical  setting  of  their  homes. 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  1)23 

In  previous  chapters  we  have  gained  some  idea 
of  the  topography  of  the  New  World  and  of  the 
climate  in  its  relation  to  plants  and  animals.  We 
have  also  seen  that  climate  has  much  to  do  with 
human  energy.  We  have  not,  however,  gained  a 
suflBciently  clear  idea  of  the  distribution  of  climatic 
energy.  A  map  ot  the  world  showing  how  energy 
would  be  distributed  if  it  depended  entirely  upon 
climate  clarifies  the  subject.  The  dark  shading  of 
the  map  indicates  those  regions  where  energy  is 
highest.  It  is  based  upon  measurements  of  the 
strength  of  scores  of  individuals,  upon  the  scholas- 
tic records  of  hundreds  of  college  students,  upon 
the  piecework  of  thousands  of  factory  operatives, 
and  upon  millions  of  deaths  and  births  in  a  score  of 
different  countries.  It  takes  account  of  three  chief 
climatic  conditions  —  temperature,  humidity,  and 
variability.  It  also  takes  account  of  mental  as  well 
as  physical  ability.  Underneath  it  is  a  map  of  the 
distribution  of  civilization  on  the  basis  of  the 
opinion  of  fifty  authorities  in  fifteen  different  coun- 
tries. The  similarity  of  the  two  maps  is  so  striking 
that  there  can  be  little  question  that  today  the 
distribution  of  civilization  agrees  closely  with  the 
distribution  of  climatic  energy.  When  Egypt, 
Babylonia,  Greece,  and  Rome  were  at  the  height  of 


If.' 


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,  4  ' 


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ii^Tmr',mM!^^4r.:%-i: 


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If 


124         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

their  power  this  agreement  was  presumably  the 
same,  for  the  storm  belt  which  now  gives  variabil- 
ity and  hence  energy  to  the  thickly  shaded  regions 
in  our  two  maps  then  apparently  lay  farther  south. 
It  is  generally  considered  that  no  race  has  been 
more  closely  dependent  upon  physical  environment 
than  were  the  Indians.  Why,  then,  did  the  ener- 
gizing effect  of  climate  apparently  have  less  effect 
upon  them  than  upon  the  other  great  races?  Why 
were  not  the  most  advanced  Indian  tribes  found 
in  the  same  places  where  white  civilization  is  to- 
day most  advanced?  Climatic  changes  might  in 
part  account  for  the  difference,  but,  although  such 
changes  apparently  took  place  on  a  large  scale  in 
earlier  times,  there  is  no  evidence  of  anything  ex- 
cept minor  fluctuations  since  the  days  of  the  first 
white  settlements.  Racial  inheritance  likewise 
may  account  for  some  of  the  differences  among 
the  various  tribes,  but  it  was  probably  not  the 
chief  factor.  That  factor  was  apparently  the 
condition  of  agriculture  among  people  who  had 
neither  iron  tools  nor  beasts  of  burden.  Civiliza- 
tion has  never  made  much  progress  except  when 
there  has  been  a  permanent  cultivation  of  the 
ground.  It  has  been  said  that  "the  history  of 
agriculture  is  the  history  of  man  in  his  most  primi- 


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THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  125 

live  and  most  permanent  aspect."  If  we  examine 
the  achievements  and  manner  of  life  of  the  Indians 
in  relation  to  the  effect  of  climate  upon  agriculture 
and  human  energy,  as  well  as  in  relation  to  the 
more  obvious  features  of  topography  and  vegeta- 
tion, we  shall  understand  why  the  people  of  ab- 
original America  in  one  part  of  the  continent 
differed  so  greatly  from  those  in  another  part. 

In  the  far  north  the  state  of  the  inhabitants  to- 
day is  scarcely  different  from  what  it  was  in  the 
days  of  Columbus.  Then,  as  now,  the  Eskimos 
had  practically  no  political  or  social  organization 
beyond  the  family  or  the  little  group  of  relatives 
who  lived  in  a  single  camp.  They  had  no  per- 
manent villages,  but  meed  from  place  to  place 
according  to  the  season  'n  search  of  fish,  game,  and 
birds.  They  lived  this  simple  life  not  because  they 
lacked  ability  but  because  of  their  surroundings. 
Their  kayaks  or  canoes  are  marvels  of  ingenuity. 
With  no  materials  except  bones,  driftwood,  and 
skins  they  made  boats  which  fulfilled  their  purpose 
with  extraordinary  perfection.  Seated  in  the  small, 
round  hole  which  is  the  only  opening  in  the  deck 
of  his  canoe,  the  Eskimo  hunter  ties  his  skin  jacket 
tightly  outside  the  circular  gunwale  and  is  thus 
shut  into  a  practical 'y  water-tight  compartment. 


I 


i 


'■   ;sF»ffrg5ig'--'» 


I 

■i 


•vi 


11 

! 


1«3         THE  RED  xMANS  CONTINENT 
Though  the  waves  djush  over  him,  scarcely  a  drop 
enters  the  craft  as  he  skims  along  with  his  double 
paddle  among  cakes  of  floating  ice.    So,  too,  the 
snowLouse  with  its  anterooms  and  curved  entrance 
passage  is  as  clever  an  adaptation  to  the  needs  of 
wanderers  in  a  land  of  ice  and  snow  as  is  the  sky- 
scraper to  the  needs  of  a  busy  commercial  people 
crowded  into  great  cities.    The  fact  that  the  oil- 
burning,  soapstone  lamps  of  the  Eskimo  were  the 
only  means  of  producing  artificial  light  in  abori- 
ginal America,  except  by  ordinary  fires,  is  another 
tribute  to  the  ingenuity  of  these  northerners.    So, 
too,  is  the  fire-drill  by  which  they  alone  devised  a 
means  of  increasing  the  speed  with  which  one 
stick  could  be  twirled  against  another  to  produce 
fire.    In  view  of  these  clever  inventions  it  seems 
safe  to  say  that  the  Eskimo  has  remained  a  no- 
madic savage  not  because  he  lacks  inventive  skill 
but  partly  because  the  climate  deadens  his  energies 
and  still  more  because  it  forbids  him  to  practice 
agriculture. 

Southward  and  inland  from  the  coastal  homes  of 
the  Eskimo  lies  the  great  region  of  the  northern 
pine  forests.  It  extends  from  the  interior  of  Alaska 
southeastward  in  such  a  way  as  to  include  most  of 
the  Canadian  Rockies,  the  nortliern  plains  from 


tH 


4  1 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  m 

Great  Bear  Lake  almost  to  Lake  Winnipeg,  and 
most  of  the  great  Laurentian  shield  arounu  Hudson 
Bay  and  in  the  peninsula  of  Labrador.  Except 
among  the  inhabitants  of  the  narrow  Pacific  slope 
and  those  of  the  shores  of  Labrador  and  the  St. 
Lawrence  Valley,  a  single  type  of  barbarism  pre- 
vailed among  the  Indians  of  all  the  vast  pine  forest 
area.  Only  in  .i  small  section  of  the  wheat-raising 
plains  of  Alberta  and  Saskatchewan  have  their 
habits  greatly  changed  because  of  the  arrival  of 
the  white  man.  Now  as  always  the  Indians  in 
these  northern  regions  are  held  back  by  the  long, 
benumbing  winters.  They  cannot  practice  agri- 
culture, for  no  crops  will  grow.  They  cannot 
depend  to  any  great  extent  upon  natural  vegeta- 
tion, for  asid  from  blueberries,  a  few  lichens,  and 
one  or  two  other  equally  insignificant  products, 
the  forests  furnish  no  food  except  animals.  These 
lowly  people  seem  to  have  been  so  occupied  with 
the  severe  struggle  with  the  elements  that  they 
could  not  even  advance  out  of  savagery  into  bar- 
barism. They  were  homeless  nomads  whose  n.ove- 
ments  were  determined  largely  by  the  food  supply. 
Among  the  Athapascans  who  occupied  all  the 
western  part  of  the  northern  pine  forests,  clothing 
wae  made  of  deerskins  with  the  hair  left  on.    The 


i^ 


!-, 


■ 


ii 


0 


;i 


1 


128         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

lodges  were  likewise  of  deer  or  caribou  skins,  t 
though  farther  south  these  were  sometimes  le- 
placed  by  bar!;.  The  food  of  these  tribes  consisted 
of  caribou,  deer,  moose,  and  musk-ox  together  with 
smaller  animals  such  as  the  beaver  and  hare. 
They  also  ate  various  kinds  of  birds  and  the  fish 
found  in  the  numerous  lakes  and  rivers.  They 
killed  deer  by  driving  them  into  an  angle  formed 
by  two  converging  rows  of  stakes,  where  they  were 
shot  by  hunters  lying  in  wait.  Among  the  Kaw- 
chodinne  tribe  near  Great  Bear  Lake  hares  were 
the  chief  source  of  both  food  and  clothing.  When 
an  unusually  severe  winter  or  some  other  disaster 
diminished  the  supply,  the  Indians  believed  that 
the  animals  had  mounted  to  the  sky  by  means 
of  the  trees  and  would  return  by  the  "ame  way. 
In  1841  owing  to  scarcity  of  hares  many  of  this 
tribe  died  of  starvation,  and  numerous  acts  of 
cannibalism  are  said  to  have  occurred.  Small 
wonder  that  civilization  was  low  and  that  infanti- 
cide, especially  of  female  children,  was  common. 
Among  such  people  women  were  naturally  treated 
with  a  minimum  of  respect.  Since  they  were  not 
skilled  as  hunters,  there  was  relatively  little  which 
they  coulc'  '-ntribute  toward  the  sustenance  of  the 
family.    Hence  they  were  held  in  low  esteem,  for 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  129 

among  most  primitive  people  woman  is  valued 
largely  in  proportion  to  her  economic  contribution. 
Her  low  position  is  illustrated  by   the  peculiar 
funeral  custom  of  the  Takulli,  an  Athapascan  tribe 
on  the  Upper  Frazer  River.    A  widow  was  obliged 
to  remain  upon  the  funeral  pyre  of  her  husband  till 
the  flames  reached  her  own  body.    When  the  fire 
had  died  down  she  collected  the  ashes  of  her  dead 
and  placed  them  in  a  basket,  which  she  was  obliged 
to  carry  with  her  during  three  years  of  servitude  in 
the  family  of  her  husband.    At  the  end  of  that 
time  a  feast  v/as  held,  when  she  was  released  from 
thraldom  and  permitted  to  remarry  if  she  desired. 
Poor  and  degraded  as  the  people  of  the  northern 
forests  may  have  been,  they  had  their  good  traits. 
The  Kutchins  of  the  Yukon  and  Lower  Mackenzie 
regions,  though  they  killed  their  female  children, 
were  exceedingly  hospitable  and  kept  guests  for 
months.    Each  head  of  a  family  took  his  turn  in 
feasting  the  whole  band.    On  such  occasions  eti- 
quette required  the  host  to  fast  until  the  guests 
had  departed.    At  such  feasts  an  interesting  wres- 
tling game  was  played.     First  the  smallest  boys 
began  to  wrestle.    The  victors  wrestled  with  those 
next  in  strength  and  so  on  until  finally  the  strongest 
and  freshest  man  in  the  band  remained  the  final 


.J.' 


I 


M 


, 


Tl 


'i 


c 


ISO         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

victor.  Then  the  girls  and  women  went  through 
the  same  progressive  contest.  It  is  hard  to  deter- 
mine whether  the  people  of  the  northern  pine 
forest  were  more  or  less  competent  than  their 
Eskimo  neighbors.  It  perhaps  makes  little  dif- 
ference, for  it  is  doubtful  wheth  r  even  a  race 
with  brilliant  natural  endowments  could  rise  far 
in  the  scale  of  civilization  under  conditions  so 
highly  adverse. 

The  Eskimos  of  the  northern  coasts  and  the 
people  of  the  pine  forests  were  not  the  only  ab- 
origines whose  development  was  greatly  retarded 
because  they  could  not  practice  agriculture.  All 
the  people  of  the  Pacific  coast  from  Alaska  to 
Lower  California  were  in  similar  circumstances. 
Nevertheless  those  living  along  the  northern  part 
of  this  coast  rose  to  a  much  higher  level  than  did 
those  of  California.  This  has  sometimes  been 
sui)pose(l  to  show  that  geographical  environment 
has  little  influence  upon  ci\  ilization,  but  in  reahty 
it  proves  exactly  the  opposite. 

The  coast  of  British  Columbia  was  one  of  the 
three  chief  centers  of  aboriginal  America.  As  The 
Enrycloptrdia  Britannica'  puts  it:  "The  Haida 
people  constituted  v  ith  little  doubt  the  finest  race 

'  lull  Kdition,  vol.  xxii.  p.  730. 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  .VMERICA  131 

and  that  most  advanced  in  tht'  urts  of  fhe  entire 
west  coast  of  North  America."  They  and  their 
almost  equally  advanced  Tlingit  and  Tsimshian 
neighbors  on  the  mainland  di^playe*!  nuich  me- 
chanical skill,  especially  in  canoe-building,  wood- 
carving,  and  the  working  of  stone  and  copper,  as 
well  as  in  making  blankets  and  baskets.  To  this 
day  they  earn  a  considerable  amount  of  money 
by  seUing  their  carved  objects  of  wood  and  slate 
to  traders  and  tourists.  Their  canoes  were  hol- 
lowed out  of  logs  of  cedar  and  were  often  very 
large.  Houses  which  .vere  .sometimes  40  by  100  feet 
were  built  of  huge  cedar  beams  and  planks,  which 
were  first  worked  with  stone  and  were  then  put 
together  at  great  feasts.  These  correspond  to  the 
"raising  bees"  at  which  the  neighbors  gathered  to 
erect  the  frames  of  houses  in  early  New  England. 
Each  Haida  house  ordinarily  had  a  single  carved 
totem  pole  in  the  middle  of  the  gable  end  which 
faced  toward  the  beach.  Often  the  end  posts  in 
front  were  also  carved  and  the  whole  house  was 
painttni.  Another  evidence  of  the  fairly  advanced 
stjite  of  the  Haidas  was  their  active  commercial 
intercourse  with  regions  hundreds  of  miles  awa.\-. 
At  their  "potlatches,"  as  the  raising  bees  were 
called  by  the  whites,  traffic  went  on  vigorously. 


«i4] 


1 


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13«         THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 
Cap-od   ™pper  p.ates   were  among   Ihe  articles 
«h,ch  they  e»teen,«l  of  Wghes.  value.    Standing 
n  he  nbe  depended  on  ,|,e  po«„.o„  of  property 
rather  than  on  ability  i„  .ar,  in  ,vhieh  reipect  the 
Ha,da.,  were  .nore  like  the  p«,p|e  of  today  than 
were  any  of  the  other  Indian  tribes. 

.Slavery  was  eommon  a„,ong  the  Haidas.    Even 
-  late  as   ,861.  7800  Tli„«it,s  held  8«  slaves 
Slavery  „,ay  „„t  fa,.  „  ^^,  institution  in  itself' 
but  ,t  .ndieates  that  p™p,e  .„.  „ell-,o-do,  that' 
he,,  dwel    ,n  permanent  alxxles,  and  that  thev 
have  a  well-e,stabii,,he,l  soeial  order.     .V.nong  the 
more  backward  Iroquoi.,.  captives  rarely  b<^an,e 
g.™„„e  slaves,  for  the  social  and  economic  organi- 
zal,o„  was  not  sufficiently  developed  ,o  admit  of 
h  s      1  he  few  ..aptivcs  who  were  retainc^d  after  a 
hKl„  were  -ulopt„|  into  the  tribe  of  the  captors  or 

':^'  "7 ""■"'  '"  «-  »'tl.  them  and  shift  for 

Ihem.,.  ves  -  a  practice  very  different  fron,  that 
of  the  Il.iidas. 

Anol  l„.r  feature  „f  the  Haidas'  life  which  showed 

.■u.n,«mu,ve  progress  wa.,  the  .,,x.ial  distinctions 
"...hcxstc.la„,ongth..„,.     One  of  the  ways  in 

:'""  '":''""""'»  """"'-ned  their  social  p„iio„ 
«■■»  b,v  g.y,ng  away  „uanlities  of  goods  of  all  kinds 
•"  ""■  "»"""•'«■»  »■'"■'• '-y  "rgani^l.    A  man 


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THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  183 

sometimes  went  so  far  as  to  strip  himself  of  nearly 
every  possession  except  his  house.  In  return  for 
this,  however,  he  obtained  what  seemed  to  him  an 
abundant  reward  in  the  respect  with  which  his 
fellow-tribesmen  afterward  regarded  him.  At 
subsequent  potlatches  he  received  in  his  turn  a 
measure  of  their  goods  in  proportion  to  his  own 
gifts,  so  that  he  was  sometimes  richer  than  before. 
These  potlatches  were  social  as  well  as  industrial 
functions,  and  dancing  and  singing  were  inter- 
spersed with  the  feasting.  One  of  the  amusements 
was  a  musical  contest  in  which  singers  from  one 
tribe  or  band  would  contend  with  one  another  as 
to  which  could  remember  the  greatest  number  of 
songs  or  accurately  repeat  a  new  song  after  hearing 
it  for  the  first  time.  At  the  potlatches  the  children 
of  chiefs  were  initiated  into  secret  societies.  They 
had  their  noses,  ears,  and  lips  pierced  for  ornaments, 
and  some  of  them  were  tattooed.  This  great  re- 
spect for  social  position  which  the  Haidas  mani- 
fested is  doubtless  far  from  ideal,  but  it  at  least 
indicates  that  a  part  of  the  tribe  was  suflBciently 
advanced  to  accumulate  property  and  to  pass  it 
on  to  its  descendants  —  a  custom  that  is  almost 
impossible  among  tribes  which  move  from  place 
to  place. 


'ii 


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134         THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

The  question  suggests  itself  why  these  coast 
barbarians   were  so   much   in   advance  of  their 
neighbors  a  few  hundred  miles  away  in  the  pine 
woods  of  the  mountains.    The  climate  was  prob- 
ably one  reason  for  this  superiority.    Instead  of 
being  in  a  region  like  the  center  of  the  pine  forests 
of  British  Columbia  where  human  energy  is  sapped 
by  six  or  eight  months  of  winter,  the  Haidas 
enjoyed  conditions  like  those  of  Scotland.     Al- 
though snow  fell  occasionally,   severe  cold  was 
unknown.    Nor  was  there  great  heat  in  summer. 
The  Haidas  dwelt  where  both  bodily  strength  and 
mental  activity  were  stimulated.    In  addition  to 
this  advantage  of  a  favorable  climate  these  Indians 
had  a  large  and  steady  supply  of  food  close  at  hand. 
Most  of  their  sustenance  was  obtained  from  the 
sea  and  from  the  rivers,  in  which  the  runs  of  salmon 
furnishrd  abundant  provisions,  which  rarely  failed. 
In  Hecate  Strait,  between  the  (Jueen  Charlotte  Is- 
lands and  the  mainland,  there  were  wonderfully 
productive  halibut  fisheries,  from  which  a  supply  of 
fish  was  dried  and  packed  awuy  for  the  winter,  so 
that  there  was  always  a  store  of  provisions  on 
hand.  The  forests  in   their   turn    furnished  ber- 
ries and  seeds,  as  well  as  bears,  mountain  goats, 
and  other  game. 


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THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  135 

Moreover  the  people  of  the  northwest  coaist  had 
the  advantage  of  not  being  fom>d  to  move  from 
place  to  place  in  order  to  follow  the  fish.  They 
lived  on  a  drowned  shore  where  bays,  straits,  and 
sounds  are  extraordinarily  numerous.  The  great 
waves  of  the  Pacific  are  shut  out  by  the  islands  so 
that  the  waterways  are  almost  always  safe  for 
canoes.  Instead  of  moving  their  dwellings  in  order 
to  follow  the  food  supply,  as  the  Eskimo  and  the 
people  of  the  pine  forest  were  forced  to  do,  the 
Ilaidus  and  their  neighbors  were  able  without 
difficulty  to  bring  their  food  home.  At  all  seasons 
the  canoes  made  it  easy  to  transport  large  supplies 
of  fish  from  places  even  a  hundred  miles  away. 
Having  settled  dwellings,  the  Ilaid.'us  could  ac- 
cumulate property  and  acquire  that  feeling  of 
permanence  whieh  is  one  of  the  most  important 
conditions  for  the  development  of  civilization. 
Doubtless  the  Haitlas  were  intellectually  superior 
to  many  other  tribes,  but  even  if  they  had  not 
been  greatly  superior,  their  surroundings  would 
probably  have  made  them  stand  relatively  high  in 
the  scale  of  civilization. 

Southward  from  the  Haidas,  around  Puget 
Sound  and  in  Washington  and  Oregon,  there  was 
a  gradual  decline  in  civilization.     The  Chinook 


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MICROCOPY   RESOIUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TeST  CHART  No.  2) 


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S^  '653   Eos*    Main    Street 

r.S  Rochester,    Ne«    York         !4609        uSA 

i^S  (716)    48;  -  0300  -  Phone 

=  (716)    288  -  5989  -  Fox 


1S6         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

Indians  of  the  lower  Columbia.  \  eyond  the  Umits 
of  the  great  northern  archipelago,  had  large  com- 
munal houses  occupied  by  three  or  four  families 
of  twenty  or  more  individuals.   Their  villages  were 
thus  fairly  permanent,  although  there  was  much 
moving  about  in  summer  owing  to  the  nature  of 
the  food  supply,  which  consisted  chiefly  of  salmon, 
with  roots  and  berries  indigenous  to  the  region. 
The  people  were  noted  as  traders  not  only  among 
themselves  but  with  surrounding  tribes.     They 
were  extremely  skillful  in  handling  their  canoes, 
which  were  well  made,  hollowed  out  of  single  logs, 
and  often  of  great  size.    In  disposition  they  are 
described  as  treacherous  and  deceitful,  especially 
when  their  cupidity  was  aroused.     Slaves  were 
common  and  were  usually  obtained  by  barter  from 
surrounding  tribes,  though  occasionally  by  success- 
ful raids.    These  Indians  of  Oregon  by  no  means 
rivaled  the  Haidas,  for  their  food  supply  was  less 
certain  and  they  did  not  have  the  advantage  of 
easy  water  communication,  which  did  so  much  to 
raise  the  Haidas  to  a  high  level  of  development. 

Of  the  tribes  farther  s(  .ih  an  observer  says: 
"In  general  rudeness  of  culture  the  California 
Indians  are  scarcely  above  the  Eskimo,  and  where- 
as the  lack  of  development  of  the  Eskimo  on  many 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  187 

sides  of  their  nature  is  reasonably  attributable  in 
part  to  their  difficult  and  limiting  environment, 
the  Indians  of  California  inhabit  a  country  natur- 
ally as  favorable,  it  would  seem,  as  it  might  be. 
If  the  degree  of  civilization  attained  by  a  people 
depends  in  any  large  measure  on  their  habitat,  as 
does  not  seem  Ukely,  it  might  be  concluded  from 
the  case  of  the  California  Indians  that  natural 
advantages  were  an  impediment  rather  than  an 
incentive  to  progress."  In  some  of  the  tribes,  such 
as  the  Hupa,  for  example,  there  existed  no  organi- 
zation and  no  formalities  in  the  government  of  the 
village.  Formal  councils  were  unknown,  although 
the  chief  might  and  often  did  ask  advice  of  his  men 
in  a  collected  body.  In  general  the  social  structure 
of  the  California  Indians  was  so  simple  and  loose 
that  it  is  hardly  correct  to  speak  of  their  tribes. 
Whatever  solidarity  there  was  among  these  peo- 
ple was  due  in  part  to  family  ties  and  in  part 
to  the  fact  that  they  hved  in  the  same  village 
and  spoke  the  same  dialect.  Between  diflFerent 
groups  of  these  Indians,  the  common  bond  was 
similarity  of  language  as  well  as  frequency  and 
cordiality  of  intercourse.  In  so  primitive  a  condi- 
tion of  sociely  there  was  neither  necessity  nor  op- 
portunity for  differences  of  rank.    The  influence 


.ivl 


ll 


1,1 


I! 


J  "*1_ — ,-  . 


138         THE  RED  mN'S  CONTINENT 

of  chiefs  was  small  and  no  distinct  classes  of  slaves 

were  known. 

Extreme  poverty  was  Mie  chief  cause  of  the  low 
social  and  political  organization  of  these  Indians. 
The  Maidus  in  the  Sacramento  Valley  were  so 
poor  that,  in  addition  to  consuming  every  possible 
vegetable  product,  they   not  only   devoured  all 
birds  except  the  buzzard,  but  ate  badgers,  skunks 
wildcats,  an^  mountain  lions,  and  even  consumed 
salmon  bones  and  deer  vertebra.     They  gathered 
grasshoppers  and  locusts  by  digging  large  shallow 
pits  in  a  meadow  or  flat.    Then,  setting  fire  to  the 
grass  on  all  sides,  they  drove  the  insects  into  the 
pit     Their  wings  being  burned  off  by  the  flames, 
the  grasshoppers  were  helpless  and  were  thus  col- 
lected bv  the  bushel.   Again  of  the  Moquelumne, 
one  of  the  largest  tribes  in  central  Califorma,  it  is 
said  that  their  houses  were  simply  frameworks 
of  poles  and  brush  which  in  winter  were  covered 
with  earth.     In  summer  they  erected  cone-shaped 
lodges  of  poles  among  the  mountains.    In  favorable 
years  thev   gathered  large   quantities  of  acorns, 
which  formed  their  principal  food,  and  stored  them 
for  winter  use  in  granaries  raised  above  the  ground. 
Often,  however,  the  crop  wu .  poor,  and  the  Indians 
were  left  on  the  verge  of  starvation. 


THE  RED  >UN  IN  AMERICA  139 

Finally  in  the  far  south,  in  the  peninsula  of 
Lower  California,  the  tribes  were  "probably  the 
lowest  in  culture  of  any  Indians  in  North  America, 
for  their  inhospitable  environment  which  made 
them  wanderers,  was  unfavorable  to  the  founda- 
tion of  government  even  of  the  rude  and  unstable 
kind  found  elsewhere."  The  Yuman  tribes  of 
the  mountains  east  of  Santiago  wore  sandals  of 
maguey  fiber  and  descended  from  their  own  terri- 
tory among  the  mountains  "to  eat  calabash  and 
other  fruits"  that  grew  beside  the  Colorado  River. 
They  were  described  as  "very  dirty  on  account  of 
the  much  mescal  they  eat."  Others  speak  of  them 
as  "very  filthy  in  their  habits.  To  overcome  ver- 
min they  coat  their  heads  with  mud  with  which 
they  also  paint  their  bodies.  On  a  hot  day  it  is  by 
no  means  unusual  to  see  them  wallowing  in  the 
mud  like  pigs."  They  were  "exceedingly  poor, 
having  no  animals  except  foxes  of  which  they  had 
a  few  skins.  The  dress  of  the  women  in  summer 
was  a  shirt  and  a  bark  skirt.  The  men  appear  to 
have  been  practically  unclothed  during  this  season. 
The  practice  of  selling  children  seems  to  have  been 
common.  Their  sustenance  was  fish,  fruits,  vege- 
tables, and  seeds  of  grass,  and  many  of  the  tribes 
were  said  to  have  been  dreadfully  scorbutic." 


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140         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

A  little  to  the  east  of  these  degraded  savages  the 
much  more  advanced  Mohave  tribe  had  its  home 
on  the  lower  Colorado  River.     The  contrast  be- 
tween these  neighboring  tribes  throws  much  light 
on  the  reason  for  the  low  estate  of  the  California 
Indians.    "No  better  example  of  the  power  of  en- 
vironment to  better  man's  condition  can  be  found 
than  that  shown  as  the  lower  Colorado  is  reached. 
Here  are  tribes  of  the  same  family  (as  those  of 
Lower  California)  remarkable  not  only  for  their 
fine  physical  development,  but  Uving  in  settled 
villages  with  well-defined  tribal  lines,  practising  a 
rude,  but  effective,  agriculture,  and  well  advanced 
in  many  primitive  Indian  arts.    The  usual  Indian 
staples  were  raised  except  tobacco,  these  tribes 
preferring  a  wild  tobacco  of  their  region  to  the 
cultivated."' 

This  quotation  is  highly  significant.  With  it 
should  be  compared  the  fact  that  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  corn  or  anjlhing  else  was  cultivated  in 
California  west  of  the  Rio  Colorado  Valley.  Cali- 
fornia is  a  region  famous  throughout  America  for 
its  agriculture,  but  its  crops  are  European  in  origin. 
Even  in  the  case  of  fruits,  such  as  the  grape,  which 
have  American  counterparts,  the  varieties  actually 

'  Hodge,  Handbook  of  Amerkan  Indians. 


M  '■ 


1 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  141 

cultivated  were  brought  from  Europe.  Wheat  and 
barley,  the  chief  foodstuffs  for  which  California 
and  similar  subtropical  regions  are  noted,  were  un- 
known in  the  New  World  before  the  coming  of  the 
white  man.  In  pre-Columbian  America  corn  was 
the  only  cultivated  cereal.  The  other  great  staples 
of  early  American  agriculture  were  beans  and 
pumpkins.  All  three  are  preeminently  summer 
crops  and  need  much  water  in  July  and  August. 
In  CaHfornia  there  is  no  rain  at  this  season. 
Though  the  fall  rains,  which  begin  to  be  abundant 
in  October  and  November,  do  not  aid  these  summer 
crops,  they  favor  wheat  and  barley.  The  winter 
rains  and  the  comparatively  warm  winter  weather 
permit  these  grains  to  grow  slowly  but  continu- 
ously. When  the  warm  spring  arrives,  there  is  still 
enough  rain  to  permit  wheat  and  barley  to  make 
a  rapid  growth  and  to  mature  their  seeds  long 
before  the  long,  dry  summer  begins.  The  com- 
paratively dry  weather  of  May  and  June  is  just 
what  these  cereals  need  to  ripen  the  crop,  but  it 
is  fatal  to  any  kind  of  agriculture  which  depends 
on  summer  rain. 

Crops  can  of  course  be  grown  during  the  sum- 
mer in  California  by  means  of  irrigation,  but  this 
is  rarely  a  simple  process.    If  irrigation  is  to  be 


\f'r 


N 


14«         THE  RED  ^UN•S  CONTINENT 

cfftx:tive  in  California,  it  cannot  depend  on  the 
small  streams  which  practically  dry  up  during  the 
long,   rainless   summer,   hut   it    must   depend    on 
comparatively  larjrc  streams  which  flow  in  well- 
dofmed  channels.     With  our  modem  knowledge 
and  machinery  it  is  easy  for  us  to  make  canals  and 
ditches  and  to  prepare  the  level  fields  needed  to 
utilize  this  water.    A  piH)ple  with  no  knowledge  of 
iigriculturc.  liowever.  and  with  no  iron  tools  can- 
not suddenly   begin   to  practice  a  complex  and 
highly  developed  system  of  agriculture.    In  Cali- 
fornia there  is  little  or  none  of  the  natural  summer 
irrigation    which,    in   certain   parts   of   America, 
appt^irs  to  have  been  the  most  important  factor 
leading  to  the  first  steps  in  tilling  the  ground. 
The  lower  Colorado,  however,  floods  broad  areas 
every  summer.    Here,  as  on  the  Nile,  the  retiring 
floods  leave  the  land  so  moist  that  crops  can  easily 
be  raised.    Hence  the  Mohave  Indians  were  able 
to  practice  agriculture  and  to  rise  well  above  their 
kinsmen  not  only  in  Lower  California  but  through- 
out the  whole  State. 

In  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  of  the  United 
States,  just  as  on  the  Pacific  ust,  the  condi- 
tion of  the  tribes  deteriorated  )re  and  more  the 
farther  they  lived  to  the  south.  In  the  regions  where 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  HM 

the  rainfall  comes  in  .summcT,  Iiow<'v<t,  und  h«'nf(r 
favors  primitive  agriculture,  there  was  a  marked 
improvement.  The  Kutenai  tribes  lived  near  the 
corner  where  Idaho,  Montana,  and  British  Colum- 
bia now  meet.  They  apjicar  to  have  been  of 
rather  high  grade,  noteworthy  for  lh<Mr  morality, 
kindness,  and  ho.spitality.  More  than  any  other 
Indians  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  they 
avoided  drunkenness  and  lewd  intercourse  with  the 
whites.  Their  mental  ability  was  comparatively 
high,  as  appears  from  their  skill  in  iiuffalo-hunting, 
in  making  dugouts  and  bark  canoes,  and  in  con- 
structing sweat-houses  and  lodges  of  both  skins 
and  rushes.  Even  today  the  lower  Kutenai  are 
noted  for  their  water-tight  baskets  of  si)lit  roots. 
Moreover  the  degree  to  which  they  used  the  plants 
that  grew  about  them  for  food,  medicine,  and  eco- 
nomical purposes  was  noteworthy.  They  also  had 
an  esthetic  appreciation  of  several  plants  and 
flowers  —  a  gift  rare  among  Indians.  These  people 
lived  in  the  zone  of  most  stimulating  climate  and, 
although  they  did  not  practice  agriculture  and  had 
little  else  in  their  surroundings  to  help  them  to  rise 
above  the  common  level,  they  dwelt  in  a  region 
where  there  was  rain  enough  in  summer  to  pre- 
vent their  being  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  as 


I' 


I 


144         THE  RED  \L\N'S  CONTINENT 

the  Indians  of  California  usually  were.  Moreover 
they  were  near  enough  to  the  haunts  of  the 
buffalo  to  (le{)en(l  on  that  great  beast  for  food. 
Since  one  buffalo  supplies  us  much  food  as  a 
hundrctl  rabbits,  these  Indians  were  vastly  bet- 
ter off  than  the  people  of  the  drier  parts  of  the 
western  coast. 

South  of  the  home  of  the  Kutenai,  in  eastern 
Oregon,  southern  Idaho,  Nevada,  Utah,  and 
neighboring  regions  dwelt  the  lUes  and  other 
Shoshoni  tribes.  In  this  region  the  rainfall,  which 
is  no  greater  than  that  of  California,  occurs  chiefly 
in  winter.  The  long  summer  is  so  dry  that,  except 
by  highly  tleveloped  methods  of  irrigation,  agricul- 
ture is  impossible.  Hence  it  is  not  surprising  to 
find  a  traveler  in  1850  describing  one  tribe  of  the 
Ute  family  as  "without  exception  the  most  miser- 
able looking  set  of  human  beings  I  ever  saw.  They 
have  hitherto  subsisted  principally  on  snakes,  liz- 
ards, roots."  The  lowest  of  all  the  Ute  tribes  were 
those  who  lived  in  the  sage-brush.  The  early  ex- 
plorer, Bonneville,  found  the  tribes  of  Snake 
River  wintering  in  brush  shelters  without  roofs  — 
merely  heaps  of  brush  piled  high,  behind  which  the 
Indians  crouched  for  protection  from  wind  and 
snow.    Crude  as  such  shelters  may  seem,  they  were 


'      II       ■' 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  145 

the  best  that  could  he  construrtefl  by  pwple  who 
dwelt  where  then;  was  no  vegetafion  except  little 
bushes,  and  where  th<>  soil  was  for  the  most  part 
sandy  or  so  salty  that  it  conld  not  easily  br  made 
into  adobe  bricks. 

The  food  of  these  IJtes  and  Shoshonis  was  no 
better  than  their  shelters.     There  were  no  lar^f; 
animals  for  them  to  hunt;  rabbits  wen;  ihe  best 
that  they  could  find.     Farther  to  the  <-ast,  where 
the  buffalo  wandered  during  part  of  the  year  and 
where  there  are  .some  forests,  the  food  was  better, 
the  shelters  were  more  effective,  and.  in  A'eneral, 
the  standard  of  living  was  higher,  although  racially 
the  two  groups  of  people  were  alike.    In  this  case, 
as  in  others,  the  people  whose  condition  was  lowest 
were  apparently   as   competent   as   those   whose 
material  conditions  were  much  better.     Today,  al- 
though the  Ute  Indians,  like  most  of  their  race,  are 
rather  slow,  some  tribes,  such  as  the  Pajoites,  are 
described  as  not  only  "peaceful  and  moral,"  but 
also  "industrious."    They  are  highly  commended 
for  their  good  qualities  by  those  who  have  had  the 
best   opportunities   for   judging.      While   not   as 
bright  in  intellect  as  some  of  the  prairie  tribes 
whom   we  shall   soon   consider,   they   appear   to 
possess    more    solidity    of    character.      By    their 


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146  THK  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

williiiKnt'ss  and  officicncy  as  workers  thoy  have 
ina<l.«  lluMUsolvrs  lu-ossary  to  tht-  wbitv  farmers 
ami  have  thtis  supplied  themselves  with  good  eloth- 
ing  and  numy  ..f  the  comforts  of  life.  They  have 
resistetl.  too.  many  of  the  evils  coming  from  the 
advance  «.f  civilization,  so  that  one  agent  speaks 
of  these  Indii'  's  presenting  the  singular  anomaly 
of  improving  ^..  contact  with  the  whites.  Ap- 
parently their  extremely  low  condition  in  former 
times  was  due  merely  to  that  same  handicap  of 
environment    which    kept   back    the    Indians   of 

California. 

Compare  these  backward  but  not  wholly  un- 
gifted  I'tes  with  the  Hopi  who  belonged  to  the 
same  stock.     The  relatively  high  social  organiza- 
tion of  the  latter  people  and  the  intricacy  and 
significance  of  their  religious  ceremonials  are  well 
known.    Mentally  the  Hopi  seem  to  be  the  equal 
of  any  tribe,  but  it  is  uoubtful  whether  they  have 
much  more  innate  capacity  than  many  of  their 
more   backward    neighbors.      Nevertheless    they 
made  much  more  progress  before  the  days  of  the 
white  man,  as  can  easily  be  seen  in  their  artistic 
development.     Every   one  who   has  crossed  the 
continent  by  the  Santa  Fe  rou'.e  knows  how  inter- 
esting and  beautiful  are  their  pottery,  basketry, 


THK  RED  MAX  IN   AMKRICA  M7 

and  weaving.    \ol  only  in  art  J.iil  also  in  gov«Tn- 
niinf  iUv  Ilopi  arc  liiglily  advanrcrl.    Their  govcrn- 
int'  bo<ly  is  a  council  of  hereditary  elders  together 
with  the  chiefs  of  n'iigious  fraternities.     Among 
the.se  officials  there  is  a  sixaker  (;hief  anrl  a  war 
chief,   hut   there  seems  never   lo  have   heen   any 
supreme  chief  of  all  the  Ilopi.     Kach  i)uehlo  },as 
an  hereditary  chief  who  directs  all  the  communal 
work,   sudi  as  the  cleaning  of   the   springs  and 
the  general  care  of  the  village.     Crimes  are  rare. 
This  at  first  sight  .seems  strange  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  no  penalty  was  inflicted  for  any  crime  except 
.sorcery,   hut   under   Ilopi   law   all   transgressions 
could  be  reduced  to  sorcery.     One  of  the  most 
striking  features  of  Hopi  life  was  its  rich  religious 
development,     'i'he  Hopi  recognized  a  large  num- 
ber of  supernatural  beings  and  had  a  great  .store  of 
most  interesting  and   poetic   mythological   tales. 
The  home  of  the  Hopi  would  seem  at  first  sight  as 
unfavorable  to  progress  as  that  of  their  Fte  cousins, 
but  the  Hopi  have  the  advantage  of  being  the  most 
northwesterly  representatives  of  the  Indians  who 
dwell  within  the  regions  of  summer  rain.     For- 
tunately for  them,  their  country  is  too  desert  and 
unforested  for  them  to  subsist  to  any  great  degree 
by  the  chase.    They  are  thus  forced  to  devote  all 


f  1 


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148         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

their  energy  to  agriculture,  through  which  they 
have  developed  a  relatively  high  standard  of  living. 
They  dwell  far  enough  south  to  have  their  heaviest 
rainfall  in  summer  and  not  in  winter,  as  is  the  case 
in  Utah,  so  that  they  are  able  to  cultivate  crops  of 
corn  and  beans.  Where  such  an  intensive  system 
of  agriculture  prevails,  the  work  of  women  is  as 
valuable  as  that  of  men.  The  position  of  woman  is 
thus  relatively  high  among  the  Hopi,  for  she  is 
useful  not  only  for  her  assistance  in  the  labors  of 
the  field  but  also  for  her  skill  in  preserving  the 
crops,  grinding  the  flour,  and  otherwise  preparing 
the  comparatively  varied  food  which  this  tribe 
fortunately  jyjssesses. 

From  northern  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  to 
Mexico  City  summer  rains,  dry  winters,  and  still 
drier  springs,  are  the  rule.  Forests  are  few,  and 
much  of  the  country  is  desert.  The  more  abundant 
the  rains,  the  greater  the  number  of  people  and 
the  greater  the  opportunities  for  the  accumulation 
of  wealth,  and  thus  for  that  leisure  which  is  neces- 
sary to  part  of  a  community  if  civiHzation  is  to 
make  progress.  That  is  one  reason  why  the  civil- 
ization of  the  summer  rain  people  becomes  more 
highly  developed  as  they  go  from  north  to  south. 
The  fact  that  the  altitude  of  the  country  increases 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  149 

from  the  United  States  border  southward  also 
tends  in  the  same  direction,  for  it  causes  the  climate 
to  be  cooler  and  more  bracing  at  Mexico  City  than 
at  places  farther  north. 

The  importance  of  summer  rains  in  stimulating 
growth  and  in  facilitating  the  early  stages  of  agri- 
culture is  noteworthy.     Every  one  familiar  with 
Arizona  and  New  Mexico  knows  how  the  sudden 
summer  showers  fill  the  mountain  valleys  with 
floods  which  flow  down  upon  the  plain  and  rapidly 
spread  out  into  broad,  thin  sheets,  often  known  as 
Vlayas.     There  the  water  stands  a  short  time  and 
then  either  sinks  into  the  ground  or  evaporates. 
Such  places  are  favored  with  the  best  kind  of 
natural  irrigation,  and  after  the  first  shower  it  is  an 
easy  matter  for  the  primitive  farmer  to  go  out  and 
drop  grains  of  corn  into  holes  punched  with  a  stick. 
Thereafter  he  can  count  on  other  showers  to  water 
his  field  while  the  corn  sprouts  and  grows  to 
maturity.    All  that  he  needs  to  do  is  to  watch 
the  field  to  protect  it  from  the  rare  depredations 
of  wild  animals.    As  time   goes   on   the  primi- 
tive farmer  realizes  the  advantage  of  leading  the 
water  to  particularly  favorable  spots  and  thus  be- 
gins to  develop  a  system  of  artificial  irrigation. 
In  regions  where  such  advantageous  conditions 


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150         THE  RED  ^UN'S  CONTINENT 
prevail,  the  people  who  live  permanently  in  one 
place  succeed  best,  for  the  work  that  they  do  one 
year  helps  them  the  next.     They  are  not  greatly 
troubled  by  weeds,  for,  though  grasses  grow  as 
well  as  corn  in  the  places  where  the  water  spreads 
out,  the  grasses  take  the  form  of  little  clumps  which 
can  easily  be  pulled  up.    In  the  drier  parts  of  the 
area  of  summer  rain,  it  becomes  necessary  to  con- 
serve the  water  supply  to  the  utmost.    The  Hopi 
consider  sandy  fields  the  best,  for  the  loose  sand  on 
top  acts  as  a  natural  blanket  to  prevent  evapora- 
tion from  the  underlying  layers.    Sometimes  in  dry 
seasons  the  Hopi  use  extraordinary  methods  to 
help  their  seeds  to  sprout.    For  instance,  they  place 
a  seed  in  a  ball  of  saturated  mud  which  they  bury 
beneath  several  inches  of  3and.    As  the  sand  pre- 
vents evaporation,  practically  all  the  water  is  re- 
tained for  the  use  of  the  seed,  which  thereupon 
sprouts  and  grows  some  inches  by  the  time  the 
first  summer  floods  arrive. 

The  Indians  of  the  Great  Plains  lived  a  very 
different  life  from  that  of  the  natives  of  either  the 
mountains  or  the  Pacific  coast.  In  the  far  north, 
to  be  sure,  the  rigorous  climate  caused  all  the 
Indians  to  live  practically  aUke,  whether  in  th^ 
Rockies,  the  plains,  or  the  Laurentian  highland. 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  1.51 

South  of  them,  in  that  groat  central  expanse 
stretching  from  the  latitu(ie  of  Lake  Winnipeg  to 
the  Rio  Grande  River,  the  Imiians  of  the  plains 
possessed  a  relatively  uniform  type  of  life  peculiar 
to  themselves.  This  individuality  was  due  partly 
to  the  luxuriant  carpet  of  grass  which  covered  the 
plains  and  partly  to  the  supply  of  animal  food  af- 
forded by  the  vast  herds  of  buffaloes  which  roamed 
in  tens  of  thousands  throughout  the  whole  terri- 
tory. The  grass  was  important  chiefly  because  it 
prevented  the  Indians  from  engaging  in  agriculture, 
for  it  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  Indians  had 
neither  iron  tools  nor  beasts  of  burden  to  aid  them 
in  overcoming  the  natural  difficulties  in  the  way 
of  agriculture.  To  be  sure,  they  did  occasionally 
pound  meteoric  iron  into  useful  implements,  but 
this  substance  was  so  rare  that  probably  not  one 
Indian  in  a  hundred  had  ever  seen  a  piece.  The 
Indians  were  quite  familiar  with  copper,  but  there 
is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that  they  had  dis- 
covered any  means  of  hardening  it.  Metals  played 
no  real  part  in  the  life  of  any  of  the  Indians  of 
America,  and  without  such  tools  as  iron  spades  and 
hoes  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  cultivate  grass- 
land. If  they  burned  the  prairie  and  dropped  seeds 
into  holes,  the  corn  or  beans  which  they  thus 


« 


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15«  THE  RED  MiVNS  CONTINENT 

plantai  were  sure  to  he  ehoke<l  by  the  (juickly 
spriiif^'infj  grass.  To  dig  away  I  he  lough  sod  around 
the  hole  for  each  swhI  wouUl  require  an  almost 
inrredibU'  amount  of  work  even  with  iron  tools. 
To  aceonii)..sh  this  with  wooden  spades,  rude 
hoes  made  of  large  flakes  of  flint,  or  the  shoulder 
blades  of  the  buffalo,  was  impossible  on  any  large 
scale.  Now  and  then  in  some  river  bottom  where 
the  grass  grew  in  clumps  and  could  be  easily  pulled 
up,  a  little  agriculture  was  possible.  That  is  all 
that  seems  to  have  been  attempted  on  the  great 
grassy  plains. 

The  Indians  could  not  undertake  any  wide- 
spread cultivation  of  the  plains  not  only  because 
they  lacked  iron  tools  but  also  because  they  had 
no  draft  animals.  The  buffalo  was  too  big,  too 
fierce,  and  too  stupid  to  be  domesticated.  In  all 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  two  Americas  there 
was  no  animal  to  take  the  place  of  the  useful  horse, 
donkey,  or  ox.  The  llama  was  too  small  to  do 
anything  but  carry  light  loads,  and  it  could  live 
only  in  a  most  limited  area  among  the  cold  An- 
dean highlands.  Even  if  the  aboriginal  Ameri- 
cans could  have  made  iron  ploughs,  they  could  not 
have  ploughed  the  tough  sod  without  the  aid  of 
animals.     Moreover,   even   if   the  possession  of 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  153 

metal  tools  and  beasts  of  burden  h&cl  made  agri- 
culture possible  in  the  grass-lands,  it  would  have 
been  difficult,  in  the  absence  of  wood  for  fences,  to 
prevent  the  buffalo  from  eating  up  the  crops  or 
at  least  from  tramping  through  them  and  spoiling 
them.  Thus  the  fertile  land  of  the  great  plains 
remained  largely  unused  until  the  white  man  came 
to  the  New  World  bringing  the  iron  tools  and 
domestic  animals  that  were  necessary  to  successful 
agriculture. 

Although  farming  of  any  .sort  was  almost  as  im- 
possible in  the  plains  as  in  the  dry  regions  of  win- 
ter rains  Tarther  west,  the  abundance  of  buffaloes 
made  li'  *  much  easier  in  many  respects.  It  is 
astonish  ng  to  see  how  many  purposes  these  ani- 
mals served.  An  early  traveler  who  dwelt  among 
one  of  the  buffalo-hunting  tribes,  the  Tonkawa  of 
central  Texas,  says:  "Besides  their  meat  it  [the 
buffalo]  furnishes  them  liberally  what  they  de- 
sire for  conveniences.  The  brains  are  used  to 
soften  skins,  the  horns  for  spoons  and  drinking 
cups,  the  shoulder  blades  to  dig  up  and  clear 
off  the  ground,  the  tendons  for  threads  and 
bow  strings,  the  hoofs  to  glue  the  arrow-feath- 
ering. From  the  tail-hair  they  make  ropes 
and   girths,   from    the   wool,   belts   and    various 


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154         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

ornaments.  The  hide  furnishes  .  .  .  shields,  tents, 
shirts,  footwear,  and  blankets  to  protect  them 
from  the  cold."' 

The  buffalo  is  u  surprisingly  stupid  animal. 
When  a  herd  is  feeding  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to 
walk  into  the  midst  of  it  and  shoot  down  an  animal. 
P2ven  when  one  of  their  companions  falls  dead,  the 
buffaloes  pay  no  attention  to  the  hunter  provided 
he  remains  perfectly  still.  The  wounded  animals 
are  not  at  first  dangerous  but  seek  to  flee.  Only 
when  pursued  and  brought  to  bay  do  they  turn  on 
their  pursuers.  When  the  Indi<ins  of  an  encamp- 
ment united  their  forces,  as  was  their  regular  habit, 
they  were  able  to  slaughter  hundreds  of  animals 
in  a  few  days.  The  more  delicate  parts  of  the  meat 
they  ate  first,  often  without  cooking  them.  The 
rest  they  dried  and  packed  away  for  future  use, 
while  they  prepared  the  hides  as  coverings  for  the 
tents  or  as  rugs  in  which  to  sleep. 

Wherever  the  buffaloes  were  present  in  large 
numbers,  the  habits  of  the  Indians  were  much  the 
same.  They  could  not  live  in  settled  villages,  for 
there  was  no  assurance  that  the  buffalo  would  come 
to  any  particular  place  each  year.  The  plains  tribes 
were  therefore  more  thoroughly  nomadic  than  al- 

'  See  Hodge,  Handbook  of  American  Indians,  vol.  ii,  p.  781. 


i^  < 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  155 

most  any  others,  especially  after  the  introduction 
of  horses.  Because  they  wandered  so  much,  they 
came  into  contact  with  other  tribes  to  an  unusual 
degree,  and  much  of  the  contact  was  friendly. 
Gradually  the  Indians  developed  a  sign  language 
by  which  tribes  of  different  tongues  could  com- 
municate with  one  another.  At  first  these  signs 
were  like  pictographs,  for  the  speaker  pointed  as 
nearly  as  possible  to  the  thing  that  he  desired  to  in- 
dicate, but  later  they  became  more  and  more  con- 
ventional. For  example,  man,  the  erect  animal,  was 
indicated  by  throwing  up  the  hand,  with  its  back 
outward  and  the  index  finger  extending  upward. 
Woman  was  indicated  by  a  sweeping  downward 
movement  of  the  hand  at  the  side  of  the  head  v.ith 
fingers  extended  to  denote  long  hair  or  the  combing 
of  flowing  locks. 

Among  the  plains  Indians,  the  Dakotas,  the 
main  tribe  of  the  Sioux  family,  are  universally 
considered  to  have  stood  highest  not  only  physi- 
cally but  mentally,  and  probably  morally.  Their 
bravery  was  never  questioned,  and  they  con- 
quered or  drove  out  every  rival  except  the  Chip- 
pewas.  Their  superiority  was  clearly  seen  in  their 
system  of  government.  Personal  fitness  and  pop- 
ularity determined   chieftainship  more  than  did 


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156         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

heredity.  The  authority  of  the  chief  was  Hmited 
by  the  Band  Council,  without  whose  approbation 
Httle  or  nothing  could  be  accomplished.  In  one  of 
the  Dakota  tribes,  the  Tetons,  the  policing  of  a 
village  was  confided  to  two  or  three  officers  who 
were  appointed  by  the  chief  and  who  remained  in 
power  until  their  successors  were  appointed.  Day 
and  night  they  were  always  on  the  watch,  and  so 
arduous  were  their  labors  that  their  term  of  service 
was  necessarily  short.  The  brevity  of  their  term, 
however,  was  atoned  for  by  the  greatness  of  their 
authority,  for  in  the  suppression  of  disturbances  no 
resistance  was  suffered.  Their  persons  were  sacred, 
and  if  in  the  execution  of  their  duty  they  struck 
even  a  chief  of  the  second  class  they  could  not  be 
punished. 

The  Dakotas,  who  lived  in  the  region  where  their 
name  is  still  preserved,  inhabited  that  part  of  the 
great  plain  which  is  climatically  most  favorable 
to  great  activity.  It  is  perhaps  because  of  their 
response  to  the  influence  of  this  factor  of  geo- 
graphical environment  that  they  and  their  neigh- 
bors are  the  best  known  of  the  plains  tribes.  Their 
activity  in  later  times  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
the  Tetons  were  called  "the  plundering  Arabs  of 
America."    If  their  activities  had  been  more  wisely 


THE  RED  XUN  IN  AMERICA  157 

directed,  they  might  have  made  a  great  name  for 
themselves  in  Indian  history.  In  the  arts  they 
stood  as  high  as  could  be  expected  in  view  of  the 
wandering  life  which  they  led  and  the  limited  mate- 
rials with  which  they  had  to  work.  In  the  art  of 
making  pictographs,  for  instance,  they  excelled  all 
other  tribes,  except  perhaps  the  Kiowas,  a  plains 
tribe  of  Colorado  and  western  Kansas.  On  the 
hides  of  buffalo,  deer,  and  antelope  which  formed 
their  tents,  the  Dakotas  painted  calendars,  which 
had  a  picture  for  each  year,  or  rather  for  each 
winter,  while  those  of  the  Kiowas  had  a  summer 
symbol  and  a  winter  symbol.  Probably  these  cal- 
endars reveal  the  influence  of  the  whites,  but  they 
at  least  show  that  these  people  of  the  plains  were 
quick-witted. 

Farther  south  the  tribes  of  the  plains  stood  on  a 
much  lower  level  than  the  Dakotas.  The  Spanish 
explorer,  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  describes  the  Yguases 
in  Texas,  among  whom  he  lived  for  several  years, 
in  these  words:  "Their  support  is  principally 
roots  which  require  roasting  two  days.  Many  are 
very  bitter.  Occasionally  they  take  deer  and  at 
times  fish,  but  the  quantity  is  so  small  and  the 
famine  so  great  that  they  eat  spiders  and  eggs 
of  ants,  worms,  lizards,  salamanders,  snakes,  and 


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158         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

vipers  that  kill  whom  they  strike,  and  they  eat 
earth  and  all  that  there  is,  the  dung  of  deer,  things 
I  omit  to  mention  and  I  earnestly  believe  that 
were  there  stones  in  that  land  they  would  eat  them. 
They  save  the  bones  of  the  fish  they  consume,  the 
snakes  and  other  animals,  that  they  may  after- 
ward beat  them  together  and  eat  the  powder." 
During  these  painful  periods,  they  bade  Cabeza  de 
Vaca  "  not  to  be  sad.  There  would  soon  be  prickly 
pears,  although  the  season  of  this  fruit  of  the  cactus 
might  be  months  distant.  When  the  pears  were 
ripe,  the  people  feasted  and  danced  and  forgot 
their  former  privations.  They  destroyed  their 
female  infants  to  prevent  them  being  taken  by 
their  enemies  and  thus  becoming  the  means  of 
increasing  the  latter's  number." 

East  of  the  Great  Plains  there  dwelt  still  another 
important  type  of  Indians,  the  people  of  the  decid- 
uous forests.  Their  home  extended  from  the  Great 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  As  we  have  already 
seen,  the  Iroquois  who  inhabited  the  northern  part 
of  this  region  were  in  many  respects  the  highest 
product  of  aboriginal  America.  The  northern  Iro- 
cjuois  tribes,  especially  those  known  as  the  Five 
Nations,  were  second  to  no  other  Indian  people 
north  of  Mexico  in  political  organization,  state- 


I   I 


ii 


i*^-** 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  159 

craft,  and  military  prowess.     Their  leaders  were 
genuine  diplomats,  as  the  wily  French  and  English 
statesmen  with  whom  they  treated  soon  discov- 
ered.    One  of  their  most  notable  traits  was  the 
reverence  which  they  had  for  the  tribal  law.    The 
wars  that  they  waged  were  primarily  for  political 
independence,  for  the  fundamental   principle  of 
their  confederation  was  that  by  uniting  with  one 
another  they  would  secure  the  peace  and  welfare 
of  all  with  whom  they  were  connected  by  ties  of 
blood.    They  prevented  blood  feuds  by  decreeing 
that  there  should  be  a  price  for  the  killing  of  a  co- 
tribesman,  and  they  abstained  from  eating  the 
flesh  of  their  enemies  in  order  to  avoid  future  strife. 
So  thoroughly  did  they  b.       e  in  the  rights  of  the 
individual  that  women  were  accorded  a  high  posi- 
tion.   Among  some  of  the  tribes  the  consent  of  all 
the  women  who  had  borne  children  was  f-equired 
before  any  important  measure  could  be  taken. 
Candidates  for  a  chiefship  were  nominated  by  the 
votes  of  the  mothers,  and,  as  lands  and  houses 
were  the  property  of  the  women,  their  power  in 
the  tribe  was  great. 

The  Iroquois  were  sedentary  and  agricultural, 
and  depended  on  the  chase  for  only  a  small  part 
of   their   existence.     The   northern    tribes    were 


( ' 


1  / 


'»•' 

M 


IGO         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

especially  noted  for  their  skill  in  building  fortifica- 
tions and  houses.  Their  so-called  castles  were  solid 
wooden  structures  with  platforms  running  around 
the  top  on  the  inside.  From  the  platforms  stones 
and  other  missiles  could  be  hurled  down  upon 
besiegers.  According  to  our  standards  such  dwell- 
ings were  very  primitive,  but  they  were  almost  as 
great  an  advance  upon  the  brush  piles  of  the  Utes 
as  our  skyscrapers  are  upon  them. 

Farther  south  in  the  Carolinas,  the  Cherokees, 
another  Iroquoian  tribe,  stand  out  prominently  by 
reason  of  their  unusual  mental  ability.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  white  man,  the  Cherokees  were 
the  first  to  adopt  a  constitutional  form  of  govern- 
ment embodied  in  a  code  of  laws  written  in  their 
own  language.  Their  language  was  reduced  to 
writing  by  means  of  an  alphabet  which  one  of  their 
number  named  Sequoya  had  devised.  Sequoya 
and  other  leaders,  however,  may  not  have  been 
pure  Indians,  for  by  that  time  much  white  blood 
had  been  mixed  with  the  tribe.  Yet  even  before 
the  coming  of  the  white  man  the  Cherokees  were 
apparently  more  advanced  in  agriculture  than  the 
Iroquois  were,  but  less  advanced  in  their  form  of 
government,  in  their  treatment  of  women,  and  in 
n  my  other  respects. 


I'f     ! 


IHOQUOIS  FORT 

Engraving  Mttet  a  drawing  by  ChampUin,  in  U*  Vogaget  el  Dueou- 
terturu  faitet  en  la  SowteUe  France,  published  in  161 ». 


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^^m.  :-:7}^^^^mmm^wMtm^2mm 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  161 

In  general,  as  we  go  from  north  to  south  in  the 
region  of  deciduous  forests,  we  find  that  among  the 
early  Indians  agriculture  became  more  and  more 
important  and  the  people  more  sedentary,  though 
not  always  more  progressive  in  other  ways.  The 
Catawbas,  for  instance,  in  South  Carolina  were 
sedentary  agriculturists  and  seem  to  have  differed 
Httle  in  general  customs  from  their  neighbors. 
Their  men  were  brave  and  honest  but  lacking  in 
energy.  In  the  Muskhogean  family  of  Indians, 
comprising  the  Creeks,  Choctaws,  Chickasaws,  and 
Seminoles,who  occupied  the  Gulf  States  from  Geor- 
gia to  Mississippi,  all  the  tribes  were  agricultural 
and  sedentary  and  occupied  villages  of  substantial 
houses.  The  towns  near  the  tribal  frontiers  were 
usually  palisaded,  but  the  e  more  remote  from  in- 
vasion were  unprotected.  All  these  Indians  were 
brave  but  not  warlike  in  the  violent  fashion  of  the 
Five  Nations.  The  Choctaws  would  fight  only  in 
self-defense,  it  was  said,  but  the  Creeks  and  es- 
pecially the  Chickasaws  were  more  aggressive.  In 
their  government  these  Muskhogean  tribes  appear 
to  have  attained  a  position  corresponding  to  their 
somewhat  advanced  culture  in  other  respects.  Yet 
their  confederacies  were  loose  and  flimsy  compared 
with  that  of  the  Five  Nations. 


"I 


■■L 


162         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

Another  phase  of  the  life  of  the  tribes  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  region  of  deciduous  forests  is 
illustrated  by  the  Natchez  of  Mississippi.  These 
people  were  strictly  sedentary  and  depended 
chiefly  upon  agriculture  for  a  livelihood.  They 
possessed  considerable  skill  in  the  arts.  For  in- 
stance, they  wove  a  cloth  from  the  inner  bark  of 
the  mulberry  tree  and  made  excellent  pottery. 
They  also  constructed  great  mounds  of  earth  upon 
which  to  erect  their  dwellings  and  temples.  Like 
a  good  many  of  the  other  southern  tribes,  they 
fought  when  it  was  nec<  >  arj',  but  they  were  peace- 
able compared  with  the  Five  Nations.  They  had 
a  form  of  sun-worship  resembling  that  of  Mexico, 
and  in  other  ways  their  ideas  were  like  those  of 
the  people  farther  south.  For  instance,  when  a 
chief  died,  his  wives  were  killed.  In  times  of  dis- 
tress the  parents  frequently  offered  their  children 
as  sacrifice. 

Many  characteristics  of  the  Natchez  and  other 
southern  tribes  seem  to  indicate  that  they  had 
formerly  possessed  a  civilization  higher  than  that 
which  prevailed  when  the  white  man  came.  The 
Five  Nations,  on  the  contrary,  apparently  reprt^ 
sent  an  energetic  people  who  we^o  on  the  ur;wnrd 
path  and  who  might  have  achieved  great  things  if 


.a:  , 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  163 

the  whites  had  not  interrupted  them.  The  south- 
ern Indians  resemble  people  whose  best  days  were 
past,  for  the  mounds  which  abound  in  the  Gulf 
States  appear  to  have  been  built  chiefly  in  pre- 
Columbian  days.  Their  objects  of  art,  such  as 
the  remarkable  wooden  mortars  found  at  Key 
Marco  and  the  embossed  copper  plates  found  else- 
where in  Florida,  point  to  a  highly  developed 
artistic  sense  which  was  no  longer  in  evidence  at 
the  coming  of  the  white  man. 

It  is  interesting  to  see  the  way  in  which  climatic 
energy  tended  to  give  the  Five  Nations  a  marked 
superiority  over  the  tribesmen  of  the  South,  while 
agriculture  tended  in  the  opposite  direction. 
There  has  been  much  discussion  as  to  the  part 
played  by  agriculture  among  the  primitive  Ameri- 
cans, especially  in  the  northeast.  Corn,  beans,  and 
squashes  were  an  important  element  in  the  diet 
of  the  Indians  of  the  New  England  region,  while 
farther  south  potatoes,  sunflower  seeds,  and  melons 
were  also  articles  of  food  The  New  England 
tribes  knew  enough  about  agriculture  to  use  fish 
and  shells  for  fertilizer.  They  had  wooden  mat- 
tocks and  hoes  made  from  the  shoulder  blades  of 
deer,  from  tortoise  shells,  or  from  conch  shells  set 
in  handles.    They  also  had  stone  hoes  and  spades, 


w-' 


.«.':•  :'£.] 


'] 


164         THE  RED  MANS  CONTINENT 

while  the  women  used  short  pickers  or  parers  about 
a  foot  long  and  five  inches  wide.  Seated  on  the 
ground  they  used  these  to  break  the  upp>er  part  of 
the  soil  and  to  grub  out  weeds,  grass,  and  old  corn- 
stalks. They  had  the  regular  custom  of  burning 
over  an  old  patch  each  year  and  then  replanting  it. 
Sometimes  they  merely  put  the  seeds  in  holes  and 
sometimes  they  dug  up  and  loosened  the  ground 
for  each  seed.  Clearings  they  made  by  girdling  the 
trees,  that  is,  by  cutting  off  the  bark  in  a  circle  at 
the  bottom  and  thus  causing  the  tree  to  die.  The 
brush  they  hacked  or  broke  down  and  burned  when 
it  was  dry  enough. 

There  is  much  danger  of  confusing  the  agricul- 
tural condition  of  the  Indian  after  the  European 
had  modified  his  life  with  his  condition  before  the 
European  came  to  America.  For  instance,  in  the 
excellent  article  on  agriculture  in  the  Handbook  of 
American  Indians,  conditions  prevaihng  as  late  as 
1794  in  the  States  south  of  the  Great  Lakes  are 
spoken  of  as  if  typical  of  aboriginal  America.  But 
at  that  time  the  white  man  had  long  been  in  con- 
tact with  the  Indian,  and  iron  tools  had  largely 
taken  the  place  of  stone.  The  rapidity  with  which 
European  importations  spread  may  be  judged 
by  the  fact  that  as  early  as  1736  the  Iroquois  in 


■.'J'4  . 


■■■I 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  165 

New  York  not  only  had  obtained  horses  but  were 
regularly  breeding  them.  The  use  of  the  iron  axe 
of  course  spread  with  vastly  greater  rapidity  than 
that  of  the  horse,  for  an  axe  or  a  knife  was  the  first 
thing  that  an  Indian  sought  from  the  white  man. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  agriculture  had  thus 
become  immeasurably  easier  than  before,  yet  even 
then  the  Indians  still  kept  up  their  old  habit  of 
cultivating  the  same  fields  only  a  short  time.  The 
regular  practice  was  to  cultivate  a  field  five,  ten, 
and  sometimes  even  twenty  or  more  years,  and 
then  abandon  it.' 

What  hindered  agriculture  most  in  the  northern 
part  of  the  deciduous  forest  was  the  grass.  Any  one 
who  has  cultivated  a  garden  knows  how  rapidly 
the  weeds  grow.  He  also  knows  that  there  is  no 
weed  so  hard  to  exterminate  as  grass.  When  once 
it  gets  a  foothold  mere  hoeing  seems  only  to  make 

■  Ordinarily  it  is  stated  that  this  practice  was  due  to  the  exhaustion 
of  the  soil.  That,  however,  is  open  to  question,  for  five  or  ten  years' 
ilesultory  cultivation  on  the  p-^  rt  of  the  Indian  would  scarcely  exhaust 
the  soil  so  much  that  people  would  go  to  the  great  labor  of  making  new 
clearings  and  moving  their  villages.  Moreover,  in  the  Southern  States 
it  is  well  known  to<lay  that  the  soil  is  exhausted  much  more  rapidly 
than  farther  north  because  it  contains  less  humus.  Nevertheless  the 
soiithern  tribes  cultivated  thf  land  about  their  villages  for  long 
periods.  Tribes  like  the  Creeks,  the  Cherokees,  and  the  Natchez  ap- 
pear to  have  been  decidedly  less  prone  to  move  than  the  Iroquois,  in 
spite  of  the  relatively  high  development  of   '  -se  northern  nations. 


..i 


t 


166         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

it  grow  the  faster.  The  only  way  to  get  rid  of  grass 
when  once  it  has  become  well  established  is  to 
plow  the  field  and  start  over  again,  but  this  the 
Indians  could  not  do.  When  first  a  clearing  was 
made  in  the  midst  of  the  forest,  there  was  no  grass 
to  be  contended  with.  Little  by  little,  however,  it 
was  sure  to  come  in,  until  at  length  what  had  been 
a  garden  was  in  a  fair  way  to  become  a  meadow. 
Then  the  Indians  would  decide  that  it  was  neces- 
sary to  seek  new  fields. 

One  m.'ght  suppose  that  under  such  circum- 
stances the  Indians  would  merely  clear  another 
patch  of  forest  not  far  from  the  village  and  so 
continue  to  live  in  the  old  place.  This,  however, 
they  did  not  do  because  the  labor  of  making  a 
clearing  with  stone  axes  and  by  the  slow  process  of 
girdling  and  burning  the  trees  was  so  great  that  it 
was  possible  only  in  certain  favored  spots  where 
by  accident  the  growth  was  less  dense  than  usual. 
When  once  a  clearing  became  grassy,  the  only  thing 
to  do  was  to  hunt  for  a  new  site,  prepare  a  clearing, 
and  then  move  the  village.  This  was  apparently 
the  reason  why  the  Iroquois,  although  successful 
in  other  ways,  failed  to  establish  permanent  towns 
like  those  of  the  Pueblos  and  the  Haidas.  Their 
advancement  not  onl;  in  architecture  but  in  many 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  167 

of  the  most  important  elements  of  civilization  was 
for  this  reason  greatly  delayed.  There  was  little 
to  stimulate  them  to  improve  the  land  to  which 
they  were  attached,  for  they  knew  that  soon  they 
would  have  to  move. 

Farther  south  the  character  of  the  grassy  vege- 
tation changes,  and  the  condition  of  agriculture 
alters  with  it.  The  grass  ceases  to  have  that  thick, 
close,  turfy  quality  which  we  admire  so  much  in  the 
fields  of  the  north,  and  it  begins  to  grow  in  bunches. 
Often  a  southern  hillside  may  appear  from  a  dis- 
tance to  be  as  densely  covered  with  grass  as  a  New 
England  hayfield.  On  closer  examination,  how- 
ever, the  growth  is  seen  to  consist  of  individual 
bunches  which  can  easily  be  pulled  up,  so  that 
among  the  southern  tribes  the  fields  did  not  become 
filled  with  grass  as  they  did  in  the  north,  for  the 
women  had  relatively  little  difl5culty  in  keeping 
out  this  kind  of  weed  as  well  as  others. 


In  this  survey  of  aboriginal  America  we  have 
been  impressed  by  the  contrast  between  two  di- 
verse aspects  of  the  control  of  human  activities  by 
physical  environment.  We  saw,  in  the  first  place, 
that  in  our  own  Jay  the  distribution  of  culture  in 
America  is  more  closely  related  to  climatic  energy 


il5f»-r^VJ 


168         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 
than  to  any  other  factor,  hwause  man  is  now  so 
advanced  in  the  arts  and  crafts  that  agricultural 
diflficulties  do  not  impede  him,  except  in  the  far 
north  and  in  tropical  forests. 

Secondly,  we  have  found  that,  although  all  the 
geographical  factors  acted  upon  the  Indian  as  they 
do  today,  the  absence  of  metals  and  beasts  of 
burden  compelled  man  to  be  nomadic,  and  hence 
to  remain  in  a  low  stage  of  civilization  in  many 
places  where  he  now  can  thrive. 

In  the  days  long  before  Columbus  the  distribu- 
tion of  civilization  in  the  Red  Man's  Continent 
offered  still  a  third  aspect,  strikingly  different  botli 
from  that  of  today  and  from  that  of  the  age  of 
discovery.  In  that  earlier  period  the  great  centers 
of  civilization  were  south  of  their  present  situation. 
In  the  southern  part  of  North  America  from  Ari- 
zona to  Florida  there  are  abundai  evidences  that 
the  Indians  whom  the  white  man  found  were  less 
advanced  than  their  predecessors.  The  abundant 
ruins  of  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  their  widespread 
distribution,  and  the  highly  artistic  character  of 
the  pottery  and  other  producto  of  handicraft  found 
in  them  seem  to  indicate  that  the  ancient  popula- 
tion was  both  denser  and  more  highly  cultured  than 
that  which  the  Europeans  finally  ousted.    In  the 


. 


.T.?«SJ^jaL:- 


THE  aOVKRNOKH  PALACE  AT  UXMAL,  YUCATAN, 
MEXICO 

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THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  169 

Gulf  States  there  is  perh.aps  not  much  evidence  that 
there  was  a  denser  popuhition  at  an  earher  period, 
but  the  excellence  of  the  pre-Columbian  handi- 
craft- ivd  the  existence  of  a  decadent  sun  worship 
inustrj'fe  the  way  in  which  the  civilization  of  the 
P'ist  v.as  higher  than  that  of  later  days. 

The  Aztecs,  who  figure  so  largely  in  the  history 
of  the  exploration  and  conquest  of  Mexico,  were 
merely  a  warlike  tribe  which  had  been  fortunate 
in  the  inheritance  of  a  relatively  high  civilization 
from  the  past.  So,  too,  the  civilization  found  by 
the  Spaniards  at  places  such  as  Mitla,  in  the  ex- 
treme south  of  Mexico,  could  not  compare  with 
that  of  which  evidence  is  found  in  the  ruins. 
Most  remarkable  of  all  is  the  condition  of  Yucatan 
and  Guatemala.  In  northern  Yucatan  the  Span- 
iards found  a  race  of  mild,  decadent  Mayas  living 
among  the  relics  of  former  grandeur.  Although 
they  used  the  old  temples  as  shrines,  they  knew 
little  of  those  who  had  built  these  temples  and 
showed  still  less  capacity  to  imitate  the  ancient 
architects.  Farther  south  in  the  forested  region 
of  southern  Yucatan  and  northern  Guatemala  the 
conditions  are  still  more  surprising,  for  today  these 
regions  are  almost  uninhabitable  and  are  occupied 
by  only  a  few  sickly,  degraded  natives  who  Uve 


.   '  i  !  > 


170         THE  RED  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

largely  by  the  chase.  Yet  in  the  past  this  r.  .'ion 
was  the  scene  of  by  far  the  highest  culture  that 
ever  developed  in  America.  There  alone  in  this 
great  continent  did  men  develop  an  architecture 
which,  not  only  in  massiveness  but  in  wealth  of 
architectural  detail  and  sculptural  adornment,  vies 
with  that  of  early  Egypt  or  Chaldea.  There  alone 
did  the  art  of  writing  develop.  Yet  today  in  those 
regions  the  density  of  the  forest,  the  prevalence  of 
deadly  fevers,  the  extremely  enervating  tempera- 
ture, and  the  steady  humidity  are  as  hostile  to 
civilization  as  are  the  cold  of  the  far  north  and 
the  dryness  of  the  desert. 

The  only  explanation  of  this  anomaly  seems 
to  be  that  in  the  past  the  climatic  zones  of  the 
world  have  at  certain  periods  been  shifted  farther 
toward   the  equator   than   they   are   at  present. 
Practically  all  the  geographers  of  America  now  be- 
lie ve  that  within  the  past  two  or  three  thousand 
years  climatic  pulsations  have  taken  place  whereby 
places  like  the  dry  Southwest  have  alternately  ex- 
perienced centuries  of  greater  moisture  than  at 
present  and  centuries  as  dry  as  today  or  even 
drier.     During  the  moist  centuries  greater  stormi- 
ness  prevailed,  so  that  the   climate  was  appar- 
ently better  not  only  foi  agriculture  but  for  human 


THE  RED  MAN  IN  AMERICA  171 

energj-.    At  such  times  the  standard  of  Hving  was 
higher  than  now  not  only  in  the  Southwest  but  in 
the  Gulf  States  and  in  Mexico.     In  periods  when 
the  deserts  of  the  southwestern  United  States  were 
wet,  the  Maya  region  of  Yucatan  and  Guatemala 
appears  to  have  been  relatively  dry.     Then  the 
dry  belt  which  now  extends  from  northern  Mexico 
to  the  northern  tip  of  Yucatan  apparently  shifted 
southward.     Such  conditions  would  cause  the  for- 
ests of  Yucatan  and  Guatemala  to  become  much 
less  dense  than  at  present.    This  comparative  de- 
forestation would  make  agriculture  easily  possible 
where  today  it  is  out  of  the  question.    At  the  same 
time  the  relatively  dry  climate  and  the  clearing 
away  of  the  vegetation  would  to  a  large  degree 
eliminate  the  n-alarial  fevers  and  other  diseases 
which  are  now  such  a  terrible  scourge  in  wet  tropi- 
cal countries.    Then,  too,  the  storms  which  at  the 
present  time  give  such  variability  to  the  climate 
of  the  United  States  would  follow  more  southerly 
courses.    In  its  stimulating  qualities  the  climate  of 
the  home  of  the  Mayas  in  the  days  of  their  prime 
was  much  more  nearly  like  that  whioh  now  prevails 
where  civilization  rises  highest. 

From  first  to  la.st  the  civilization  of  America  has 
been  bound  up  with  its  physical  environment.    It 


I  f 


\  I  . 


172         THE  ^f  D  MAN'S  CONTINENT 

matters  littl      .  iiether  we  are  dealing  with  the  red 
race,  the  black,  or  the  white.    Nor  does  it  matter 
whether  we  deal  with  one  part  of  the  continent  or 
another.    Wherever  we  turn  we  can  trace  the  in- 
fluence of   mountains   and  plains,   of  rocks  and 
metals  from  which  tools  are  made,  of  water  and  its 
finny  inhabitants,  of  the  beasts  of  the  chase  from 
the  hare  to  the  buffalo,  of  domestic  animals,  of  the 
native  forests,  grass-lands,  and  deserts,  and,  last 
but  not  least,  of  temperature,  moisture,  and  wind 
in  their  direct  effects  upon  the  human  body.     At 
one  stage  of  human  development  the  possibilities 
of  agriculture  may  be  the  dominant  factor  in  man's 
life  in  early  xVmerica.     At  another,  domestic  ani- 
mals may  be  more  important,  and  at  still  another, 
iron  or  waterways  or  some  other  factor  may  be  pre- 
dominant.   It  is  the  part  of  the  later  history  of  the 
American  Continent  to  trace  the  effect  of  these  vari- 
ous factors  and  to  chronicle  the  influence  that  they 
have  had  upon  man's  progress. 


f 


■^ 


^um 


BI  :LI0GRAPHICAL  >  JTE 

Although  many  books  deal  with  the  physical  features 
of  the  Western  Hemisphere  and  many  others  with  the 
Indians,  few  deal  with  the  two  in  relation  to  one  another. 
One  book,  however,  stands  out  preeminent  in  this  re- 
spect, namely,  Edward  John  Payne's  History  of  the  New 
World  Called  America,  2  vols.  (1892-99).  This  book, 
which  has  never  been  finished,  attempts  to  explain 
the  conditions  of  life  among  the  American  aborigines 
as  the  result  of  geographical  conditions,  especially 
of  the  food  supply.  Where  the  author  carries  this 
attempt  into  the  field  of  special  customs  and  religious 
rites,  he  goes  too  far.  Nevertheless  his  work  is  uncom- 
monly stimidating  and  deserves  the  careful  attention  of 
the  reader  who  would  gain  a  broad  grasp  of  the  relation 
of  geography  to  the  history  of  the  New  World. 

Two  other  good  books  which  deal  with  the  relation 
of  geography  to  American  history  are  Miss  Ellen  C. 
Semple's  American  Hilary  and  its  Geographical  Condi- 
tions (190:5)  and  .4.  P.  Drigham's  Geographic  Influences 
in  American  History  (1903).  Both  of  these  books  in- 
terpret geograjjhy  us  if  it  included  little  except  the  form 
of  the  land.  While  they  bring  out  clearly  the  effect  of 
mountain  barriers,  indented  coasts,  and  easy  routes 
whether  by  land  or  water,  they  scarcely  touch  on  the 
more  subtle  relationships  between  man  on  the  one  hand 

173 


it 

J 


174 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


il 


and  the  climate,  plants,  and  animals  which  form  the 
dominant  features  of  his  physical  environment  on  the 
other  hand. 

In  their  emphasis  on  the  form  of  the  land  both  Semple 
and  Brigham  follow  the  lead  of  W.  M.  Davis.  In  his 
admirable  articles  on  America  and  the  United  States  in 
The  Encychpcedia  Britannica  (11th  edition)  and  in  The 
Iniernatitmal  Geography  edited  by  II.  R.  Mill  (1901), 
Davis  has  given  an  uncommonly  clear  and  vivid  descrip- 
tion of  the  main  physical  features  of  the  New  World. 
Living  beings,  however,  play  little  part  in  this  descripn 
tion.  so  that  the  reader  is  not  led  to  an  understanding 
of  how  physical  geography  affects  human  actions. 

Other  good  descriptions  of  the  North  American  conti- 
nent are  found  in  the  following  books:  I.  C.  Russell's 
NorthAmerica{\9m),StnnfoTd'sCompendiumof  Modern 
Geography  and  Travel,  including  the  volumes  on  Canada, 
the  United  States,  and  Central  America,  and  the  great 
volumes  on  America  in  The  Earth  and  its  Inhahitantshy 
Elisee  Reclus,  19  vols.  (1876-1894).  Russell's  book  is 
largely  physiographic  but  contains  some  good  chapters 
on  the  Indians.  In  Stanford's  Compendium  the  pur- 
pose is  to  treat  man  and  nature  in  their  relation  to  one 
another,  but  the  relationships  are  not  clearly  brought 
out,  and  there  is  too  much  emphasis  on  purely  de- 
scriptive and  encyclopedic  matter.  So  far  as  interest  is 
concerned,  the  famous  work  by  Elisee  Reclus  hc'ds  high 
rank.  It  is  an  encyclopedia  of  geographical  iacts  ar- 
ranged and  edited  in  such  a  way  that  it  has  all  the  in- 
terest of  a  fine  book  of  travel.  Like  most  of  the  other 
books,  however,  it  fails  to  bring  out  relationships. 

As  sources  of  information  on  the  Indians,  two  books 
stand  out  with  special  prominence.    The  American  Race, 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 


175 


by  D.  G.  Brinton  (1891),  is  a  most  scholarly  volume  de- 
voted largely  to  a  study  of  the  Indians  on  a  linguistic 
basis.  It  contains  some  general  chapters,  however,  on 
the  Indians  and  their  environment,  and  these  are  most 
illuminating.  The  other  book  is  the  Handbook  of  A  meri- 
can  Indians  North  of  Mexino,  eJited  by  F.  W.  Hodge, 
and  published  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Eth- 
nology (Washington,  1897,  1910,  1911).  Its  two  large 
volumes  are  arranged  in  encyclopedic  form.  The  vari- 
ous articles  are  written  by  a  large  number  of  scholars, 
including  practically  all  the  students  who  were  at  work 
on  Indian  ethnology  at  the  time  of  publication.  Many 
of  the  articles  are  the  best  that  have  been  written  and 
will  not  only  interest  the  general  reader  but  will  con- 
tribute to  an  understanding  of  what  America  was  when 
the  Indians  came  here  and  what  it  still  is  today. 


t    :i 


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It  Is 


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til  t  '  I 


il 


INDEX 


Adirondack  Mountains.  ()4 

Africa,  migration  from,  4;  posi- 
tion on  earth.  .'>7;  liackward- 
ness  of  indigenous  lite  in.  :J!) 

Agriculture,  cotton  prinluction. 
70;  in  tropical  forests,  104- 
lOC;  advantages  of  desert  fur, 
110-17;  influence  on  civili- 
zation, H4-45;  in  California. 
140-42;  of  Hopi  Indians.  147 
14H,  119  ,50;  .lifficulties  on  the 
plains,  irA-Si;  Catawha,  Kil: 
Muikhogean,  101;  Iro(|uoi.s, 
10;!-07 

.'Mabania,  "cotton  belt"  in.  TO 

Alaska,  probable  migrations  !>y 
way  of,  15-21;  climate,  IW; 
effect  of  climate  on  white  men, 
18-iO;  probable  effect  on  In- 
dians, 20-21 

Aleutian  Islands  suppose<i  route 
of  red  men,  1.5-10,  17-lH 

Alleghany  plateau,  04-06 

Altoona.  escarpment  at,  04.  07 

.\inazon  River,  22,  Mi 

America,  migrations  to,  2-4: 
inverse  resemblances  to  Old 
World,  40  ct  .«■(/. ;  .tie  u/.vo  Cor- 
dillera, North  America,  South 
America 

Andes  Mountains,  41-42 

Animal  life,  of  Asia,  12-l.'j;  in 
northern  forests,  92,  128; 
musk-ox,  100-07;  no  draft 
animals,  l.>2;  buffalo,  15;}- 
154 

Annapolis,  tests  of  mentalitv  at, 
10 


Antarctica,  37,  42 

.Appalachian  highland,  >S;  one  of 
physical  divisions  of  North 
America,  51;  character  and 
extent.  59-00;  eastern  crystal- 
line band,  00-^)2;  second  "band, 
valley,  (i2-0l;  third  band, 
Alleghany  plateau,  04-60; 
routes  over,  07 

Archffian  \",  51 

Archeology,  indications  of  pre- 
glacial  man.  11-12;  ruins  of 
Arizona  and  New  .Mexico, 
tOK 

-Vrctic  Ocean,  position  on  earth, 
;t7;  drainage  into,  42 

Arizona,  plateaus  of,  70;  Painted 
Desert.  97;  desert,  li;5-14; 
climate,  148-50;  ruins  in, 
108 

.Vsia,  migrations  from.  4,  12-14 
inan's   original    home,    11-12 
climatic     variation     in,      13 
position    on    earth,    .'57;    Cor- 
dillera in,  41 

Athabasca,  Lake,  54 

.\thapascan  Indians,  118,  127- 
129 

Atlantic  coast,  resemblances  be- 
tween that  of  America  and 
Old  World,  45-47 

Atlantic  coastal  plain,  08-70 

.Vtlanlic  Ocean,  position  on 
earth,  37;  drainage  into,  42 

Australia,  position  on  earth,  .S7; 
backwardness  of  indigenous 
life  in,  39-40 

Aztecs,  119,  169 


177 


178 


INDEX 


1    \ 


■ 


if 

Ml 


'  Si 


I 


I' »  I  f !     • 


Baltic  Sea,  46 

Baltimore,  routes   over    mouu- 

tains  near.  C7 
Dates,  H.  W.,  The  Saturali«t  on 

the  River  Amuaons  quoted,  2* 
Heriii^  Island  on  supposed  route 

of  red  men,  10 
Bering  Strait  as  possible  passage 

to  America,  16-17 
Bcrksliires,  61 
"Binrk  l)elt,"70 
Black  Ililla  of  South  Dakota.  79 
Black  Sea,  46,  47 
Blue  Ridge,  61 

Bonneville,  Captain  B.  L.  E.,  144 
Boston,  debt  to  Mohawk-Hud- 
son route,  67 
Brains,  race  differences,  4-6 
Brinton,   D.   G.,    The  American 

Race  cited,  4;  quoted,  21-22, 

43-44 
Buffaloes,    use    to    Indians,    4.5, 

153-54 

("abeza    de    Vaca,    Nuflez,    ile- 

scribes  Yguases.  157-58 
California,  color  in  6elds  of,  97; 

Indians  of,  136-38;  agriculture, 

140-42;  climate,  141 
Canary  Islands,  41 
Cape    Farewell    Island,    sailin)^ 

route  north  of,  28 
Carthaginians  familiar  with  .\t- 

lantic  coast  of  northern  Africa, 

31 
Catawba  Indians,  161 
Catskill  Mountains,  64 
Central    America,    negroes   and 

Indians  in,  21;  formation  of, 

41 
Cherokee    Indians    (Iroquoian). 

IGO 
Chickasaw     Indians     (Muskho- 

gean),  161 
China,  population  of,  42 
Chinook  Indians,  135-36 
Choctaw  Indians  (Muskhogean), 

IGl 
Climate,  best  conditions  for  man. 


7-9;   physical   adaptation   to, 
9-10;  mental  response  to,  10- 
11;    variation    as    cause    for 
migration,    13-14;   of  Alaska. 
18-20;     stolid     character     of 
Indian  explained   by,  18,  20- 
21;   ia   Central   America,   21; 
of   Europe.   24-25;   effect   on 
evolution,  38;  effect  on  vege- 
tation.   88;    typii        environ- 
ments of  aboriginal  America, 
118-22;    distribution    of    cli- 
matic energy,  123-24;  of  Cali- 
fornia,   141;   of   .Arizona   and 
New     Mexico.      148-50;     in- 
fluence on  present  distribution 
of  culture,  167-68;  shifting  of 
climatic  zones,  170-71 
Coal,  3,  63,  65,  73 
Colorado  Kiver,  140,  142 
Columbia  River,  82,  136 
Columbus,  Christopher,  34-35 
Continents,  formation  of  the,  37 
Copper  Island  on  sup|)osed  route 

to  America,  16 
Cordillera,  American,  40-42;  Eu- 
rasian, 41-42;  effect  on  rivers, 
42;  effect  on  civilization,  42-43; 
formation  of  western,  76-84; 
volcanic,  81-83 
"Cotton  belt,"  70 
Cotton    production    of     I'nited 

States  (1914).  70 
Creek  Indians  (Muskhogean),  161 

Dakota  Indians,  155-57 

Darwin.  C.  R.,  theory  of  .-.ur- 
vivai  of  fittest,  38 

Death  Valley,  112-13 

Deserts,  Sahara,  45;  represent- 
ative type  of  vegetation,  88; 
kind  of  vegetation,  89;  Ari- 
zona, 90-91,  112,  113-14;  in 
United  States,  111-14;  heat  of, 
112-13;  in  Guatemala.  114- 
115;  variety  of  vegetation,  1 15; 
manner  of  growth  of  vege- 
tation, 116;  as  aid  to  growth 
of  civilization,  110-17 


1 


i 


INDEX 


179 


Earth,  contraction  of,  .'W;  tetra- 
hedral  form  of,  'M-"7,  39-40 

Earthquakes,  8(KH1 

Eneyclopcedia  Britannira  <|uoled, 
130-Sl 

"Endless  Mountains,"  Q'S 

(England,  Phenicians  sail  to,  31 

Erosion,  63, 75  76.  77,  78,  83-84 

Eskimos,  inventiveness,  10,  125 
liC;  fair-haired,  probable  de- 
scendants of  Norsemen,  H>; 
in  (jrccnland.  29;  social  organi- 
zation, 125;  boats,  125-20; 
houses,  126;  lamps,  126;  prog- 
r  ss  retarded,  126,  130 

Europe,  climate,  24-25;  physical 
contact  with  America,  25; 
position  on  earth,  37 

Europeans,  migration  to  America, 
4;  effect  on  Indians,  4;  brain 
capacity  of,  4-5;  migration 
from  C'entral  Asia,  24-25; 
see  also  Norsemen 

Evolution,  7;  stimulants  to,  38- 
39;  importance  of  form  of 
earth  to,  39-40 

Ferguson,  G.  O.,  The  Pnyrhology 
of  the  Negro  cited,  6 

Five  Nations,  see  Iroquois  In- 
dians 

Florida,  46 

Forests,  conditions  demanded  by, 
88-89;  northern  evergreen, 
91-94;  relation  to  human  life, 
92-93,  95,  99.  100-01.  104-06; 
southern  pine,  94-05;  of  Pa- 
cific coast,  95-96;  deciduous, 
96-99;  equatorial  rain.  99- 
100,  101-02,  103-05;  jungle, 
101-03,  105-06;  scrub,  101- 
102, 106;  prevention  of  growth 
on  prairie,  108-09;  Indians  of 
the  northern,  126-27 

Fur  trade  with  Indians,  92-94 

Furnace  Creek,  112 

Georgia,  topography  of,  69; 
cotton  production  in,  70 


Glaciation,  in  Laurentian  high- 
land, 53-54;  formation  of 
lakes.  54-55;  beneficial  to 
man,  5.5-56.  59;  in  Wisconsin. 
5658;  in  Ohio,  58;  in  Cor- 
dillera region.  83-84 

Grand  ("anyon  of  the  Colorado. 
77,82 

(irass-lands.  88.  89-90.  106-11; 
see  also  Llanos.  Plains,  Prairies. 
Tundras 

(ireat  Bear  Lake,  54 

Great  Britain,  position  of.  46 

Great  Lakes,  46,  54 

Great  Plain,  see  Plains 

Great  .Slave  Lake.  54 

Green  Mountains,  61 

Greenland,  on  route  of  vikings. 
25-26;  Red  Eric  first  settles. 
26;  traces  of  Norsemen  in.  26; 
early  settlement.  27-28,  29 

Guatemala,  malaria  in,  104;  vege- 
tation in,  114-15;  ancient 
culture  in.  169-70 

liagar,  S.,  27;  The  Bearing  of  As- 
tronomy on  the  Unity  or  Plu- 
rality and  the  Probable  Place  of 
Origin  of  the  American  Aborigi- 
nes cited,  82 

Haida  Indians,  121-22,  130-.35 

Hair,  Human,  7.  9 

Hampton  Institute,  races  repre- 
sented at,  1-2;  tests  of  mental 
ability  at,  10 

Herodotus  cite<l.  31 

Hess,  W.  H..  The  Influence  of 
Glaciation  in  Ohio  cited.  58 

History,  definition  of,  2 

Hodge,  F.  W.,  ed..  Handbook  of 
American  Indians  North  of 
Mexico,  118  (note),  164;  quot- 
ed, 140,  154 

Hopi  Indians,  146-50 

Hudson  Bay,  46 

Hudson  Valley,  traffic  in,  62 

Hudson's  Bay  Company.  92-9.'! 

Hupa  Indians,  1.37 

Huron  Indians,  23 


180 


INDEX 


Icelaml.  on  roule  of  vikings.  *•'; 
unfuvorable  to  M-ttlcmetit,  id, 
il 

India,  population  of,  ii 

Induiii  Ocean,  position  on  earth, 
37;  drainage  into,  4i 

Indians,  at  llaaipton  Institute, 
1;  migration  from  Asia,  3-4; 
brains  of,  5-0;  etfect  of  climute 
on  mentality  of,  10;  supposed 
route  to  America.  1j-17;  effect 
of  sojourn  in  Alaska,  IH,  iO-iil ; 
effect  of  heat  op,  il-ii;  a  dis- 
tinct race,  ii-i:i;  diversity 
among,  W;  similarities  be- 
tween customs  r)f  Old  World 
and,  3i-.'Jl;ditferencesljet  ween 
Pacific  coast  tril)es  and  others. 
43-M;  of  the  plains,  45,  150- 
158;  types,  118-iii;  dependent 
on  physical  environment,  144; 
of  the  far  north,  l<5-.'50;  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  l.'iO-4i;  of  Ilocky 
Mountain  rejjion,  14i -50;  si),'ii 
language,  155;  of  the  decidu- 
ous forests,  158-07;  .«(■  ahn 
names  of  families  and  tribes 

Intellect,  race  differences.  4-0 

Iron.  72-7.3 

Iroquois  Indians,  ll!(-il,  15H- 
160 

Kamchatka,  migration  toward, 
14;  supposed  route  of  red 
men,  15-16;  climate.  IS 

Katahdin,  Mount.  CO 

Katmai,  Mount,  eruption  (1!(W), 
8* 

Kawchodinne  Indians,  148 

Kentucky,  plateau  in,  65-C6 

Kiowa  Indians,  157 

Krakatoa  eruption  (1883),  Si 

Kurilc  Islands  on  supposed  route 
of  red  men,  15-16 

Kutchin  Indians,  li&-30 

Kutenai  Indians,  143-44 

Labrador.  46,  47 
Ladoga.  Lake.  40 


Lassen  Peak,  Hi 

Laurcntian  highland,  47,  51-55, 

108 
Leif  voyages  to  Vinland.  i6 
Llanos  of  the  Orinoco,  45.  49.  1 10 
Lofoten     Islands    on     route    of 

vikings.  45 
I^ng  I  iland  Sound.  86 
Los  Angeles,  aqueduct.  80;  har- 

l)or.  85 
Lower    California.     Indians    of, 

13!) 

Mackenzie  Uiver.  49 

Maidu  Indians.  138 

Maine,  scenery  of.  87 

.Mammals  of  Asia.  14-13 

Martinique.  41 

Matthew.  W.  D..  Climate  and 
Ernlufion  cited.  13,  38 

Mayas  of  Yucatan,  43-44;  zo- 
diac sii;iis  of,  34-33;  decadent. 
169 

Me<literranean  Sea,  31,  40 

Mental  differences  in  races.  4-0 

Mexicans,  zo<liac  signs  of,  34- 
33;  conquered.  119 

Mexico,  rain  forests  in.  99 

Mexico,  (Julf  of,  40,  47 

Micmae  Indians.  40-47 

Migrations,  to  America,  4-4; 
caused  by  climate  variation. 
13-14;  slowness.  14-15;  sup- 
posed route  of  red  men  to 
America.  15-17;  to  Euro[)c. 
24-45;  determine*!  by  moun- 
tains. 43-44 

Minnesota,  progress  m.  ^0 

Mississippi  River,  49-50 

Mitchell,  Mount,  61 

Mitla.  evidence  of  early  civili- 
zation at.  169 

Mohave  Desert,  80-81 

Mohave  Indians.  140  144 

Mohawk  Vall<  y.  64 

"  Monadnocks, "  60 

Mongol  nearest  relative  of  In- 
dian, 22-23 

Montana,  topography  of,  7U 


INDEX 


181 


Mo(|u<-lunine  Indians,  138 
Miirgu:!   and    FluuKh   i'itc<l,  MM 

Mouiiluiii    .systems,    tonlilleraN. 

40   13.     7ti-H4;     Appalathian, 

5!)  (J7 
Mu^khugeaii  liiiiiaiis.  I<!1 

Natchez  Judianii,  4.i,  1<>^ 
Ne>(rt)es,  at  Hampton  Institute. 

1;   migration  from   Africa,   4; 

bruins  of,  5  (i;  In-st  climate  for. 

8;  unfuvorul)lc  environment  in 

Africa.  :n 

New   EnglamI,    water-power   in, 

5();  toponraphy.  (i(Mll 
Newfoundland,  4(i,  (iO 
New  Mexico,  Puel)lo  Indians  of. 

'ii;  climate,   148- ."»();  ruins  of. 

Ids 
New  York,  topoxraphy  of,  til 
New    York    City,    advanta^eou-i 

situation  of,  til 
Norsemen,  )i.>-;iO 
North  America,  pre-placial  man 

in,   11-li;  position  on  earth. 

37;     compared     with     Soutii 

America,   47-50;    physical  di- 
visions    of,     .")  1  -87 ;     Kfc    alio 

America 
North   Carohua,    mountains    in. 

til;     cotton     i)riHluctton      in. 

70 
North  I'olc,  37 
North  Sea,  4(i 
Northwest     V\n     Company     of 

Montreal.  !>3 
Northwestern  peneplain.  (IS.  7.3  - 

74,77 
Norwav    in    fourteenia    reiiturv. 

Nufiez  (,'al)e/.u  de  Vaca,  .Mviiro, 
describes  \gua.ses,  lj7-JS 

Ohio,  glaciation  in,  .>H 

Onega,  Lake,  46 

Oregon,  mountain  ridges  in,  78; 

Indians  of,  l,3.5-,30 
Origin  of  man,  7,  11-li 


Orinoco  River.  4.'>,  4:»,  110 
Orizaba,  Hi 

Osterbyden  ((Jreculund),  is 
Owens  Valley,  80 

l'.-\cifio  roast,  Indian.s  of,  43-44 

Pacilic  Oi'ean,  |)osition  on  earth, 
37;  draituige  into,  4* 

Painted  Desert  of  Arizona,  1)7 

I'.inipas  of  .\r;,'eiitina,  110-11 

Panama  Canal,  47 

Pnyute  Imlians,  145-4(5 

Pennsylvania,  topograph\  of, 
(il 

Peruvians,  zo<liac  signs  of.  3<-.33; 
iidvancement  of,  118 

Petlcrs.son.  O,  Climatic  I'liri- 
ulionH  in  lli.itoric  uiid  I'n- 
llinlnrir  Timr.i  quoted,  28 

Pharaoh  N'echo  .sends  ships 
around  Africa.  31 

Plienicians,  early  cruises  of,  31 

Pliiladelphia,  cro.ssing  place  of 
mountains  near,  (i7 

rhysioi'rr.phy,  aid  to  under- 
standing of  history,  i;  Euro()e. 
i4;  islands  of  the  North,  i."<; 
trade-winds,  i.5,  .30,  31,  ;J4; 
form  of  American  continent, 
3*j-40;  compari.s<m  with  Old 
World,  40-47;  compari.son  of 
North  and  South  America, 
47-50;  of  North  America,  51  - 
87;  nee  al.so  Climate,  De.serts, 
Forest-s,  Grass-lands,  Moun- 
tain .systems.  Rainfall 

Piedmont  |)lateau  of  the  .\ppala- 
chians,  «l-ti2,  C9,  70.  77 

"Pine  barrens,"  Ci> 

Plains,  of  North  America,  44-45, 
(i8-75;  of  Old  World,  44-45; 
Indians  of.  45,  150-58;  of 
South  America,  45,  49;  of  .Af- 
rica, 45;  vegetation  of,  106-11 

Plata,  Rio  de  la,  49-50 

Plough.  Morgan  and,  cited,  .38- 
39 

Popocatepetl,  82 

"Fotlatehes,"  131 


H-m^ 


182 


INDEX 


u 


tM 


Prairies,  68,  71-73,  108-10;  fff 

also  Grasa-Iands 
Prince  Edward  Island,  46 
Pueblo  Indians,  32 
Puget  Sound.  87;  Indiana  near, 

135 

Queen  Charlotte  Islands,  Haidas 

of,  121,  134 
Quichua  Indians,  23 

Races,  brain  differences,  4-6; 
common  origin  of,  7;  differen- 
tiation of,  9;  place  of  origin,  11 

Itainfall,  88,  89,  98,  99.  100, 101, 
102,  103,  104,  148-50;  see  also 
Climate 

Rainier,  Mount,  82 

Red  Eric  settles  Greenland,  26 

Religion,  sun-worship,  45,  162;  of 
Hcpi  Indians,  147 

Rio  de  la  Plata,  49-50 

Rocky  Mountains,  79,  142-50; 
tee  aUo  Cordillera 

Sahara  Desert,  45 

St.  Elias  Mountain,  ?8 

St.  Lawrence,  Gulf  of,  46 

St.  Lawrence  River,  46,  49 

Saint  Roque,  Cape.  47 

San  Francisco  earthquake.  HO 

San  Francisco,  Mount,  82 

Scandinavia,  46 

Sjjnery,  value  of,  86-87 

Seminole  Indians  (Muskhogean), 

161 
Sequoya    devises    alphabet    for 

Cherokee  language,  160 
Service,    R.    W.,    Ballads    of   a 

Cheechako  quoted,  19-20 
ShasU,  Mount,  82 
.Shoshoni  Indians,  144,  145 
Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  ero- 
sion  in,   78;   effect   of  earth- 
quakes, 80 
Sign  language,  155 
Sioux  Indians,  15.5-57 
Slavery  among  the  Haidas  and 


Tlingits,  132;  among  Chi- 
nooks,  136 

Slave-trade,  African,  30 

South  .\merica,  position  on 
earth,  37;  compared  with 
North  America,  47-50;  for- 
ests of,  99-100.  105;  grass- 
lands of,  110-11;  see  also 
America 

South  Carolina,  topography  of, 
69;  cotton  production  in, 
70 

South  Pole,  37 

S-^uth western  High  Plains,  68, 
74-75,  76 

Spain,  46 

Stefansson,  Vilhjalmur,  finds  fair- 
haired  Eskimos,  26 

Suez  Canal,  47 

Takulli  Indians,  129 

Temperature,  effect  on  mental 
work,  10 

Tennessee,  plateau  in,  65-66 

Teton  Indians  (Dakotas),  15C- 
157 

Thilanottines,  legend  of,  17 

Tlingit  Indians.  131,  132 

Trade-winds.  25,  30,  31,  34 

Trees,  see  Forests 

Tsimshian  Indians,  131 

Tundras,  44;  see  also  Grass- 
lands 

Uinta  Mountains,  79 

Utah,  plateaus   of,   76,   77.   82- 

83 
Ute  Indians.  144-45 

Vaca,  Nuftez  Caheza  de,  describes 

the  Yguases,  157-58 
Vegetation,  88  el  seq. 
Vera  Cruz,  harbor  at,  85 
Verde,  Cape,  47 
Vero    (Fla.),    bones    found    at, 

11-12 
Vikings,  see  Norsemen 
V'inland,  mainland  of  .America. 

26 


'I 


h  141    < 


— — 1 
INDEX                                  183 

Virgin  River,  77 

Wisconsin,  progress  iu,  50.  glacia- 

Virginia,  Blue  Ridjre  iii.  (it 

tion  in,  56-38 

Volcanoes,  81-8;> 

Woods.  Lake  of  the.  54 
Wrangell.  Mount.  8< 

Wasatch  Mountains,  7« 

Writing.  Sequoya  devises  Chero- 

Washington.   Indians    of. 

l.V)- 

kee.  160;  among  Mayas,  170 

West    Point,     tesl>    of    mental 

Yello'vstone  National  Park,  gey- 

ability at,  l(t 

sers  and  tiot  si)rings  in.  83 

West   Virginia,   plateau   iti 

(>.j- 

Yguases  Indians,  157-58 

m 

Yost  nite  Valley.  84 

WLitbeck,     11.      H.,      Economic 

Yucatan,  forests  of.  99,  lOi-04; 

Aspects  of  Olaciation  in 

Wi»- 

progressive,    106,    Mayas   of. 

cousin  cited.  .'56 

169 

White  Mountains.  OrMil 

Vuman  Indiana,  X'M 

White  Sea.  4« 

Winnipeg,  Lake.  5* 

•  Zodiac,  signs  of.  M-3-4 

ll^^^^^f^--^ 


\       ■■..  '  /. 


